Johns Hopkins Dermpath Fellowship Closing

Mmm....on parthologyoutlines there is a job opening for director of dermpath so she (the PD) must have left.

porokeratosis said:

I heard a rumor the PD is leaving.

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She left in mid-February.

porokeratosis said:

Why did she leave? Especially in the middle of an academic year?

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Another job in another city. I think the move was planned for a little while, not sudden

Does anyone have an update on if they found a new director/will be accepting candidates in the coming years? I had been told this was happening but they are not listed on ACGME website or FREIDA. Thanks!

I always wonder what happens to people who were set to start a fellowship in the new year, or those currently in it. I presume the latter could finish it and still get credit, but what about the former?

Fascinating.....I believe this may well be the canary in the coal mine moment for Dermpath. There are sources in the Beltway that tell me there is plan brewing to create a new G-code for derm biopsies that will herald the End of Days for the Leboit/Cockrell/now deceased Ackerman devotees...

stay tuned SDN.

Dral said:

Well generally, fellowship programs seem to be pulling back a bit in response to the job market. That's a good thing.

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DP is jointly administered by Dermatology and Pathology; the former is wiser and more ethical.

LADoc00 said:

There are sources in the Beltway that tell me there is plan brewing to create a new G-code for derm biopsies that will herald the End of Days for the Leboit/Cockrell/now deceased Ackerman devotees...

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G code is best suited for those with high volume per encounter/visit, such as GI and GU and IPXs. Quantity per visit in DP is low, relative to GI or GU, and regulated by the way the clinicians are reimbursed for multiple skin biopsies. IPX in skin biopsy is limited as well.

A potential exists for (1) returning skin biopsy reimbursement to 88304 (pre-RVS) or making it 88304 1/2 or (2) bundling it to clinical code. This potential would increase if POLs are totally (i.e., even PC) removed from the Stark law exemption.

Time will tell.

AP will always be needed, however, we will have to do MUCH better job in managing the supply pipeline.

G-codes or Governmental codes as opposed to CPT codes are for whatever the Bubba Government wants to use them for.

They could class all skin biopsies as G046? whatever they want and due to Obamacare, there isnt a damn thing we can do about it.

Thank god LADoc is back. I was worried about him.

I saw Theranos opened up a "clinic" in a Walgreens out in California and 2 in Phoenix. Anyone else worried that they are coming to the neighborhood soon?

WEBB PINKERTON said:

Thank god LADoc is back. I was worried about him.

I saw Theranos opened up a "clinic" in a Walgreens out in California and 2 in Phoenix. Anyone else worried that they are coming to the neighborhood soon?

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Welcome them with open arms! They have no AP pull-through capacity and appear to be well-poised to disrupt the commodity laboratory market. In a race to the bottom, perhaps it will surprise labcorp and quest that some other bottom feeder beat them to bedrock.

The race to the bottom went through bedrock long time ago.

Lot of pathologists and laboratories are worried about Theranos I have noticed.

Doubt I will go to Walgreens for my monthly PT/INR.

WEBB PINKERTON said:

The race to the bottom went through bedrock long time ago.

Lot of pathologists and laboratories are worried about Theranos I have noticed.

Doubt I will go to Walgreens for my monthly PT/INR.

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I can't fathom why the field of pathology is insistent on maintaining "control" over CP and forensics.

The CP train left the station 30 years ago. It's not coming back. Corps like Theranos are going to do it way better than small-time outfits due to economies of scale and R&D funding. CP truly is a commodity - tissue goes into black box, answer comes out.

The reasons why forensics shouldn't be a part of AP have been outlined quite well by LADoc00 in prior posts.

Derm is closing dermpath fellowships because of job market concerns, for sure.

A type of person is attracted to pathology it seems: the type that is fine with working for someone and being an employee. Derm types are nothing like that.

WEBB PINKERTON said:

The race to the bottom went through bedrock long time ago.

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Theranos is billing Medicare at a 1/3 to 1/2 off. Sounds subterranean to me.

LADoc00 said:

End of Days for the Leboit/Cockrell/now deceased Ackerman devotees...

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FYI, Leboit and Cockrell were trained by Ackerman, the GREAT.

And the end of days for dermatopathology began the day Bernie died....I haven't been able to find a decent dermpath job since then.....only work is as an academic path instructor in a newly established medical school where they don't value their faculty, have no idea how to devise a medical school curriculum, and work them to death. Local hospitals on the west coast dont know how to utilize the dermatopathology expertise of an east coast trained DP much less one trained by Ackerman.......I see my fellow dermatopathologists working on the east coast being laid off in droves