Consolidation of anatomic pathology/microbiology

[pathstudent]

I have reading a lot about this and believe that it is coming to my hospital system also. Does anyone have experience with this?

1) does the medical staff complain about a decrease in service?
2) do the hospital based pathology groups get canned?

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[Over9000]

I have no idea why these could be consolidated. Might as well consolidate psychiatry with radiology.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

I have been seeing this all over my area.

The answer to question 1 is yes.

Question 2 seems to vary. I've seen some groups get canned, others not. The ones that survive are stuck in limbo with the threat of the specimens heading to the main campus.

Consolidation is only going to get worse. There will be very few pathology labs left standing in the future. Large hospital chain labs, labcorp/quest and a few speciality labs are about all that will exist.

 

[path24]

Agree with Webb. Seen it in my area. Pathologists lost jobs. Big group at main hospital just signs out a couple more cases each day, no need to hire more people.

1. Yes, but they are employed or complain to admin who doesn't really care. So it doesn't go anywhere. It won't save the micro dept and won't save a pathologist's job.

2. Yes. Consolidation/efficiency. Fewer pathologists needed. Courier systems work well.

The job market is going to get a lot worse.

 

[coroner]

I have no idea why these could be consolidated. Might as well consolidate psychiatry with radiology.

I thought the same thing initially upon reading the title. But then again, why not? We already pretty much shut down Micro here and outsource it to ACL (a subsidiary of Quest). Sure, the union went into an uproar but when they met with the hospital administrators, and were asked "What plan can you come up with to save us a million dollars?", there was silence...What's to stop them down the road and telling me "Guess what, we're getting a package deal with ACL for Micro and Pathology...happy trails!"

1. Yes, path24 summed it up: won't save Micro or Path. Especially when admin types see the dollar signs. Can't say I blame them though, sometimes decisions like this have to be made (at our expense in this case) just to keep the doors open...

2. Though I haven't seen outright canning, it's probably more along the lines of stabilization through attrition. Many places are still going to want/need boots on the ground, doing frozen sections, serving as committee members or filling other roles in the hospital, taking phone calls from irate physicians, and other fun stuff.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

I guess interventional pathology is just a pipe dream. The field keeps getting further and further from the patient, which is contributing to it's downfall. Other medical professionals and technology will fill any gaps left as the local pathology lab closes its doors.

 

[Over9000]

Our absolute lack of representation is primarily responsible for our downfall. I've been saying for a while that the chasm between "AP" and the rest of "Lab" is so great as to not justify lumping them together. The fact that we do facilitates such schemes as the OP has alluded to.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

What kind of representation do you expect when probably 80 percent of the people working in the field could be diagnosed with assburgers syndrome? Yes I did mispell that on purpose so dont' correct me.

 

[JeSuisPathology]

I have reading a lot about this and believe that it is coming to my hospital system also. Does anyone have experience with this?

1) does the medical staff complain about a decrease in service?
2) do the hospital based pathology groups get canned?

I spoke with pathologists at the USCAP that came from parts of Florida who either have been, or are in the process of being affected by a big-name corporation coming in and taking over.

1. Medical staff complains a lot, but is absolutely powerless- at the end of the day, the dollar talks, and nobody can argue with the obvious savings that these companies provide to the bottom line.

2. From my understanding, there's no guarantee the corporation will retain the pathologist. In some cases senior pathologists have walked away regardless, as their new boss would not compensate them nearly to the degree that they were being compensated in the good ol' days.

Know that these corporations are also employing the same business models to emergency medicine and radiology- I would assume other specialties as well.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

The "big savings" from these corporations taking over isn't being passed on to the patients apparently. Good for the shareholders I guess.

Look at the most expensive hospitals in the US. Notice anything?

http://nurses.3cdn.net/e2086b18382cb8e96d_0dm6b5ad3.pdf

 

[JeSuisPathology]

http://nurses.3cdn.net/e2086b18382cb8e96d_0dm6b5ad3.pdf

Wow.

The most common denominator has a very interesting website, portions of which address shareholders.

Previously unbeknownst to me, they even sponsor a fellowship geared towards a specific set of clinical specialty residents and fellows that is apparently done in conjunction with residency/fellowship, is paid for by them, and seems to be geared towards the business perspective of medicine.

Was anyone here aware of this type of opportunity for residents and fellows? I imagine not since Pathology residents and fellows are not eligible for this.