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Other applications. Dr. Glassy, who serves as a trustee of the American Board of Pathology, has used ChatGPT to create better distractors, or wrong answers, for the ABPath CertLink questions he writes. “It’s also good at catching grammatical mistakes in the CertLink critiques,” he says.

Some pathologists too have leveraged ChatGPT’s sophisticated translation capabilities to translate lab reports for non-English-speaking patients, he notes.

Recently, newer methods for training algorithms have shown promise in reducing the number of hallucinations, Dr. Glassy says. For example, reinforced learning from human feedback is a technique that allows users to rate the answers they receive from an LLM to optimize that model. And retrieval-augmented generation prompts LLMs to check information against authoritative sources outside the training set before issuing an answer to a query.

Despite continual improvements, Dr. Glassy expects that hallucinations will never be eliminated completely. You can’t assume an answer is right, he says. “It may sound correct, but it could still be dead wrong. These different mitigating techniques can limit errors, but you still need to confirm.”

—Renee Caruthers

XiFin offers tool that focuses on payer rate transparency

XiFin has released its Payor Rate Transparency Monitor, an interactive visualization tool that compares contracted rates published by UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Cigna by mapping aggregate billing code reimbursement data.

The monitor helps pathology laboratories and others to compare contracted rates for most common laboratory services and reimbursement rates to better negotiate with payers. It works in part by drilling down into billing codes and modifiers developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Users of the monitor can compare UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Cigna across common billing codes and related billing modifiers and spotlight detailed visualizations through bubble charts and comprehensive analyses that showcase the lowest, highest, and weighted average rates for specific services of each payer. The monitor initially focuses on 23 common codes, such as lipid panel and urinalysis, but each month XiFin will highlight a new set of codes.

The monitor allows XiFin’s clients “to make informed, timely decisions that maximize reimbursement,” said the company’s chief operating officer, Kyle Fetter, in a press statement. “But beyond the benefit to individual laboratories, these data shed light on the reimbursement landscape as a whole and have the potential to clarify pricing data, such as industry averages for services, to inform policies. Among other things, the monitor highlights absurdities, such as a basic metabolic panel with contracted rates that vary from less than a penny to several hundred dollars. Additionally, it underscores the unsustainably low average rates offered by some of the largest payers in the country for certain services.”

XiFin, 866-934-6364

CAP online course addresses cyberattack awareness

The CAP is offering an online cyberattack preparedness activity to members and nonmembers that focuses on taking preventive measures to protect laboratory information technology systems, equipment, and data.

The activity, “2023 ICBE-D: Cyberattack Awareness: Tips for Planning and Preparedness,” uses details of an actual cyberattack on a laboratory to share best practices for pathologists in private and academic health care institutions.

The objectives of the educational offering are to identify the impact of prolonged system outages on pathology and laboratory medicine services and share guidance on adapting processes so labs can function during such outages, as well as to assess laboratories’ readiness for unplanned, prolonged system outages.

The authors of the activity are William O. Humphrey, MD, CAP Informatics Committee member and neuropathology fellow, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and Tara Corona, MS, instructional designer, College of American Pathologists.

To enroll or for more information, go to http://tinyurl.com/bfvbpc6p.

TriMetis and iSpecimen undertake partnership

ISpecimen, an online global marketplace that connects scientists who require biospecimens for medical research with a network of health care specimen providers, has entered a strategic partnership with TriMetis Life Sciences, a provider of digital pathology, laboratory, and artificial intelligence workflow and automation solutions.

Under the pilot program agreement, iSpecimen, its suppliers, and clients can use technology solutions from TriMetis.

The partnership will initially focus on a subset of solid tumor types and allow iSpecimen users to employ TriMetis’ computer-assisted pathology quality control AI to help standardize and enhance tissue sample evaluation. It will also offer iSpecimen users access to TriMetis’ ARCH ecosystem. This includes ARCH marketplace, for buying and selling biospecimens and images, and ARCH LabFlow, for automating digital image workflow and processes.

TriMetis Life Sciences, 901-410-1441

Dr. Aller practices clinical informatics in Southern California. He can be reached at rayaller@gmail.com. Dennis Winsten is founder of Dennis Winsten & Associates, Healthcare Systems Consultants. He can be reached at dennis.winsten@gmail.com.