Pathlink

[SunBakedTrash]

A hospital in a nearby town ended their contract with a group of two pathologists who retired. They now are using something called pathlink to manage pathology staffing. Any idea what this is or what kind of reputation they have? Thanks in advance.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[coroner]

Yeah, I meant to start a thread on them awhile back, but never got around to it.

I was in contact with their COO a couple of years ago for some job openings. I only had e-mail/phone discussions, I didn't bother with an on-site interview. Pathlink is a large national pathology corporation with hospital contracts in many states. They function as a PE firm that does exactly what you described: buy up contracts from outgoing pp or acquire them from physician-employed models of healthcare systems. They are certainly growing and have snatched up more of these contracts over the last few years. Once they acquire laboratory contracts with said hospitals, they recruit pathologists to be employed by directly by them to be staffed at the hospitals they have contracts with.

To get to brass tacks, their offers are pretty crappy. As of 2 years ago, for non-medical directorship full-time positions, they were offering $250K, 4 weeks vacay, and standard corporate 401K retirement. Note: this was spring 2021. Maybe they have given a slight bump since then due to inflation and the job market slightly improving; but, I can't imagine it being that much different. Remember, there is no partnership or profit-sharing. You are an employee of a corporation, same as if you were to work for Quest, Kaiser, or HCA. It's a flat salary for X-number of years with maybe a 2-5% increase when it's time for contract renewal to account for inflation/COL.

Because you would be an employee of their PE firm (similar to being an employee of Quest, LabCorp, NeoGenomics, etc), they will skim off the top from your work to sustain the profitability of their corporation. Granted, almost every commercial lab will have to, including being a POD lab pathologist. But where the differences come into play are how much you are getting compensated relative to the amount of work you're putting in and what your overall compensation is compared to fair market value for the field. Pathlink is below average when comparing the options.

As far as their reputation, I have no idea. I do not know anyone who works for one of their hospitals who can speak of the work environment. I also wonder what is it that they provide to CEOs and admin of hospitals that a private group can't do just as well? Because, once the lab contract is handed over to such PE firms, this squeezes out the opportunity for private pathology groups permanently. AFAIK, they don't offer testing for micro, molecular, or other CP testing at wholesale prices a la Quest. My hunch is that they have a team of former lab employees, billers/coders, etc. at their central hub which analyzes metrics of all their contracted laboratories nationwide. Such metrics probably include revenue streams, collections, testing etc. in order to find ways to maximize profit which appeals just enough to hospital administrators to let Pathlink take over the reins.

They constantly pop up on pathoutlines with jobs all over the country. They won't advertise as 'Pathlink', though. If you see a domain name of 'ppenet.com', stay away. Their ads will simply say, "hospital-based practice is looking for...". Advertising as a "hospital-based practice" isn't technically false; but, misleading imo. This practice isn't part of an employed model under the hospital/healthcare system; and it certainly isn't private practice. They also advertise "highly competitive salary", which is absolutely false. If I see "highly competitive salary", that should at least be in the 80-90th percentile, which they are most definitely not. But, I can give them a reprieve on that, sorta. Putting "competitive salary" in an advertisement is almost boiler plate, whether true or false. No job is gonna get any takers if they advertise, "bottom 10th percentile of income"...lol.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Seem

Yeah, I meant to start a thread on them awhile back, but never got around to it.

I was in contact with their COO a couple of years ago for some job openings. I only had e-mail/phone discussions, I didn't bother with an on-site interview. Pathlink is a large national pathology corporation with hospital contracts in many states. They function as a PE firm that does exactly what you described: buy up contracts from outgoing pp or acquire them from physician-employed models of healthcare systems. They are certainly growing and have snatched up more of these contracts over the last few years. Once they acquire laboratory contracts with said hospitals, they recruit pathologists to be employed by directly by them to be staffed at the hospitals they have contracts with.

To get to brass tacks, their offers are pretty crappy. As of 2 years ago, for non-medical directorship full-time positions, they were offering $250K, 4 weeks vacay, and standard corporate 401K retirement. Note: this was spring 2021. Maybe they have given a slight bump since then due to inflation and the job market slightly improving; but, I can't imagine it being that much different. Remember, there is no partnership or profit-sharing. You are an employee of a corporation, same as if you were to work for Quest, Kaiser, or HCA. It's a flat salary for X-number of years with maybe a 2-5% increase when it's time for contract renewal to account for inflation/COL.

Because you would be an employee of their PE firm (similar to being an employee of Quest, LabCorp, NeoGenomics, etc), they will skim off the top from your work to sustain the profitability of their corporation. Granted, almost every commercial lab will have to, including being a POD lab pathologist. But where the differences come into play are how much you are getting compensated relative to the amount of work you're putting in and what your overall compensation is compared to fair market value for the field. Pathlink is below average when comparing the options.

As far as their reputation, I have no idea. I do not know anyone who works for one of their hospitals who can speak of the work environment. I also wonder what is it that they provide to CEOs and admin of hospitals that a private group can't do just as well? Because, once the lab contract is handed over to such PE firms, this squeezes out the opportunity for private pathology groups permanently. AFAIK, they don't offer testing for micro, molecular, or other CP testing at wholesale prices a la Quest. My hunch is that they have a team of former lab employees, billers/coders, etc. at their central hub which analyzes metrics of all their contracted laboratories nationwide. This metrics include revenue streams, collections, testing etc. in order to find ways to maximize profit which appeals just enough to hospital administrators to let Pathlink take over the reins.

They constantly pop up on pathoutlines with jobs all over the country. They won't advertise as 'Pathlink', though. If you see a domain name of 'ppenet.com', stay away. Their ads will simply say, "hospital-based practice is looking for...". Advertising as a "hospital-based practice" isn't technically false; but, misleading imo. This practice isn't part of an employed model under the hospital/healthcare system; and it certainly isn't private practice. They also advertise "highly competitive salary", which is absolutely false. If I see "highly competitive salary", that should at least be in the 80-90th percentile, which they are most definitely not. But, I can give them a reprieve on that, sorta. Putting "competitive salary" in an advertisement is almost boiler plate, whether true or false. No job is gonna get any takers if they advertise, "bottom 10th percentile of income"...lol.

Seems like pathologists will eventually work for a healthcare entity or a corporation for lower pay, if you aren’t working for one now.

 

[SunBakedTrash]

Seem

Seems like pathologists will eventually work for a healthcare entity or a corporation for lower pay, if you aren’t working for one now.

I think every kind or doctor probably will. We’re just early because of the high overhead.

 

[necr0sis]

the president of pathlink was the president of this group who had to pay $2.4M for false billing

Pathology Practice Agrees to Pay $2.4 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

www.justice.gov

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

I saw some PE firms doing this with radiologists years ago. It failed miserably. No one wanted to work for them and they were forced to hire locums to staff sites. It was a mess. The firm went out of business. Hopefully these people meet the same fate. I wish PE would get out of medicine. They are being really aggressive. No one is safe. All the derms around me have sold out. OBGYN groups and even ENT groups have been selling out. PE seems to be buying up more than hospitals at this point. Some of these companies have their own laboratories they are making their providers use, so it can mean a big loss of business for local pathology groups. Funny how they seduce the physicians with the illusion of more autonomy. I just don't see it. You are just the PE firm's bi*ch, not the hospitals.

 

[AZpath]

I think PE is having trouble expanding right now due to higher interest rates.
There may be some PE groups that have cash or lines of credit secured at lower interest rates.
Hospital based groups that have a lot ER patients have gotten killed lately.

Envision, the big ER group, is in bankruptcy now that it can't balance bill out of network patients.
That was big part of the business model.

Radpartners is biggest PE in Radiology. They suck. They have lots of trouble recruiting/staff their hospitals.
I assume the new out of network law is killing them too, just not as much as ER.
Right now the speculation is about what happens when they roll over their debt to a higher interest
rate.

A lot these PE groups give the selling partner some cash, stock and salary contract at the sale.
The stock is not vested until the employment contract is finished, often 5 year.
They don't want the docs to bail after they take over.

I imagine if they go bankrupt the older partners that are waiting to sell their stock are screwed.
They will lose many hospitals as the old partners bail now as they have no incentive to stay on.

 

[octopusprime]

PE needs to get out of medicine.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

I think PE is having trouble expanding right now due to higher interest rates.
There may be some PE groups that have cash or lines of credit secured at lower interest rates.
Hospital based groups that have a lot ER patients have gotten killed lately.

Envision, the big ER group, is in bankruptcy now that it can't balance bill out of network patients.
That was big part of the business model.

Radpartners is biggest PE in Radiology. They suck. They have lots of trouble recruiting/staff their hospitals.
I assume the new out of network law is killing them too, just not as much as ER.
Right now the speculation is about what happens when they roll over their debt to a higher interest
rate.

A lot these PE groups give the selling partner some cash, stock and salary contract at the sale.
The stock is not vested until the employment contract is finished, often 5 year.
They don't want the docs to bail after they take over.

I imagine if they go bankrupt the older partners that are waiting to sell their stock are screwed.
They will lose many hospitals as the old partners bail now as they have no incentive to stay on.

They seem to be expanding just fine all around me. I saw an article awhile back comparing PE vs Hospitals in the numbers of physician practices they are buying. PE was way ahead. I kind of expected that because the hold outs at this point HATE hospitals and would love to sell out to anyone that isn't a hospital system. PE is worrisome for local path groups. Like I said, it can be a huge loss of outpatient business when the firm tells them that the specimens will now be going to their pathology lab. I've even seen many in-office labs close after the PE buyout. Remember when derms, uros and gi docs were so adamant that in-office labs were superior? The money from the PE firms sure quieted that talk.

 

[Alteran]

I don't think PE is interested in pathology practices as much as clinical practices. I'm still old enough to remember the PE buying spree of the 2000s of AP labs that have since gone by the wayside or are merely former shadows of themselves. Only the truly bold would be interested in buying an AP only practice - pathologists are getting harder to come by and the fixed costs, particularly histotech labor, keep going up. The real money has always been in CP labs, and that space is really crowded right now amongst the titans who have an economy of scale that really can't be matched. For PE, the AP laboratory specimens are just icing on the cake.

 

[Med Director New England]

I don't think PE is interested in pathology practices as much as clinical practices. I'm still old enough to remember the PE buying spree of the 2000s of AP labs that have since gone by the wayside or are merely former shadows of themselves. Only the truly bold would be interested in buying an AP only practice - pathologists are getting harder to come by and the fixed costs, particularly histotech labor, keep going up. The real money has always been in CP labs, and that space is really crowded right now amongst the titans who have an economy of scale that really can't be matched. For PE, the AP laboratory specimens are just icing on the cake.

I would even argue further - the value of any AP only practice is close to nil these days. Because of the challenges you point out and there just isn’t any extra meat on the AP bone anymore.

This fact shouldn’t distress a pathologist - we are always needed - just a matter of who we contract with to provide AP pro services.

So long as we train to match real need - no problems.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

You send specimens from hundreds of derms, uros, gi, or obgyns to one mothership someplace, you can still make decent money in AP. Now THEY control the flow of patients. If you have business with a group that sells out to PE, you better be planning for the loss of that business.

Yes, people should be distressed who is providing AP services. You could find your ass sitting in a broom closet converted to an office at a former Bed Bath and Beyond location in Wisconsin.