Path Competitiveness

[Molly Maquire]

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Hi,

I was recently speaking with a 40-something doctor, and he said that when he graduated from med school, Path was one of the most competitive residencies to get, the way Rads is now.

Does anyone know if this is true, and what happened? I know that medical specialties go in cycles, but it seems that Path has been down for a while.

I think I heard something that pathologists once made a lot more money, but then the government changed the reimbursement schedules and salaries dropped. Is this the reason? Is there any possibility that these trends could reverse anytime soon? It would be great if anyone could shed some light on these issues.

Thanks.

 

[GreatPumpkin]

Yep, before the reimbursement changes path docs could collect a professional fee on every test the lab that was performed in the lab. So for every CBC, blood gas, etc... they received a fee. So you can imagine the salaries were out unbelievable. Those changes and a consolidation by the likes of Quest and Labcorp all of a sudden made path not that attractive. And, jobs were relatively scarce.

We will see how the match goes this year, but path competitiveness is definately up. The job market is good and the program length is now four years so there is a jump in interest. And, we are getting some of the fallout of folks who couldn't match in Rads.

I don't think we will be at rads competitiveness anytime soon. The money is good in path but not like rads right now. And, that really what seems to have made rads so competitive all of a sudden. Anesthesia too.

 

[Molly Maquire]

GP,

Thanks for the response. One other related question: Is it possible for a pathologist or group of path docs to own thier own lab? Or have the two corporate entities you mentioned "Wal-Marted" the lab testing industry.

Thanks.

 

[rirriri]

molly,

from what i know, independently run Path labs are pretty challenging to support. The only real hope are locations where there are numerous private medical clinics that are able to compete with larger hospitals. The widespreading of Qwest Labs and such decrease the success rates even further.

In larger cities, the chances are much better for independent Path labs to succeed, especially if they can offer specialization beyond the average Pathology lab. Although a hospital will never utilize an independent Path Lab unless they have a service they don't have, places with increased numbers of Hospitals always have an abundance of private offices/clinics as well.

The problem lies in that Path. labs require other physician clinics to keep them alive. Without the necessary number of clients and requests for lab work, these labs often have difficulty.

im like you, id like to eventually be a part of an independent lab. I have however been having problems finding more information about this subject matter.

cheers

 

[GreatPumpkin]

It is possible to have an indep lab from what I have heard, but the folks that are successful normally have some sort of niche market. Some test or group of tests that no one else offers or they do it faster than everyone else.

Also, there are indep path labs that do nothing but prostate biopsies and such. The break into the market and try to take the biopsies from the local hospitals. Some are successful.