News

Registration Now Open for ASCP 2019 Annual Meeting

Join your peers Sept. 11-13 in Phoenix, Arizona, for world-class education at the ASCP 2019 Annual Meeting. Gain practical knowledge and advance your laboratory to improve outcomes, become more cost efficient and enhance patient care. At the Annual Meeting, you’ll discover how to move appropriate test utilization from principles to practice and convey your expertise to the clinical care team through sessions led by knowledgeable, world-class faculty and respected, premier leaders. Learn from the foremost experts in the field, fulfill your Continuing Certification (CC; formerly MOC) and Credential Maintenance Program (CMP) requirements, and form valuable relationships that will last throughout your career and lifetime! Watch for more details at www.ascp.org/2019.

New ASCP Foundation Laboratory Visibility Video Expands Public Outreach

Medical laboratory scientists are vital to the health care profession and to patient care. The ASCP Foundation is telling the story of the laboratory through a new public-facing video, “Your Health, Your Laboratory,” which provides a closer look at the role of pathologists and laboratory professionals in providing data and diagnostics necessary to health care. Check it out at www.ascp.org/yourlaboratory, and share it with your students and colleagues! The video was made possible by the ASCP Foundation’s Laboratory Visibility Fund. Please make your gift today to the ASCP Foundation’s Laboratory Visibility Fund, and help raise awareness about the importance of the lab for tomorrow. Visit www.ascp.org/foundation.

Lab Week 2019 Celebrates the Important Work of the Medical Laboratory Profession

Celebrate Lab Week April 21–27, and honor yourself and your colleagues as a vital part of the lab community! Let all your colleagues know you’re excited about Lab Week by sporting exclusive ASCP Lab Week 2019 merchandise, including gear featuring this year’s theme, Pac Lab—Take Your Lab to the Next Level. Check out how other labs are showing their pride by viewing their submissions to the 2019 Pac Lab Photo & Video contest at www.ascp.org/labweek. Lab Week is a great time to generate new awareness and excitement about the medical laboratory profession while having some fun with your Pac Lab!

Improve Patient Care by Increasing Your ­Immuno-Oncology Knowledge

ASCP continues to expand its specialized education on immuno-oncology (IO), recently launching two free Continuing Medical Education (CME) panel discussions recorded at the ASCP 2018 Annual Meeting in October. The panel discussions highlight how pathologists and laboratory leadership can engage members of the entire clinical care team. Additionally, a new, free CME IO Scientific Updates webcast on liquid biopsies has also just been released, allowing learners to discover the current limitations and practical applications of liquid biopsies. Visit www.ascp.org/immuno-oncology.

National Pathology Quality Registry Granted Renewed
QCDR Status from CMS

ASCP’s National Pathology Quality Registry (NPQR) has been granted renewed Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) status for 2019 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). With QCDR status, NPQR offers pathologists a way to meet requirements under CMS’s Quality Payment Program (QPP) so that they can potentially gain positive payment adjustments and avoid penalties.

In addition to 13 QCDR measures, ASCP has 23 exclusive NPQR measures and six QPP measures. ASCP is currently working with multiple private and academic institutions to optimize and validate the automated transfer of data from clinical and anatomic pathology laboratory information systems to NPQR, where these data are honed for analysis and benchmarking.

NPQR, established by ASCP in 2016, provides a tool for pathologists and labs to harness their laboratory data to improve patient care and fulfill CMS requirements. The registry aggregates data from both clinical and anatomic pathology lab information systems to provide regularly updated dashboards that drill down to patient-level details. Participants can then create and share reports with frontline staff, departments, practice managers and hospital administrators, allowing pathologists and laboratory professionals to take a leading role in quality management at their institutions.

Pathologists and laboratories can learn more about participating in NPQR at www.ascp.org/NPQR.

Make Study Time More Productive with New Resident Question Bank

ASCP’s new Resident Question Bank (RQB) is a comprehensive, online, self-assessment and educational tool. While it was specially designed for residents, the RQB is also an extremely valuable learning aid for the practicing pathologist. It provides residents and practicing pathologists with access to hundreds of case-based multiple choice questions, including images, educational feedback and references.

“The RQB is flexible, as it includes a search functionality for specific topics or subspecialty questions, and allows immediate feedback for continuous improvement,” said Horatiu Olteanu, MD, PhD, FASCP, who served as Chair of the 2019 Resident Question Bank Committee. “The design has included extensive feedback from current trainees and recent pathology residency graduates, and we are confident that it will provide a valuable study tool to residents at all levels of training.”

With this new resource, residents can sort and receive questions in any grouping they need, for example by single organ, multiple organs or in a review of previously taken questions. They can choose whether they would like the easiest or hardest questions first or to receive them in random order. There are over 25 questions with whole slide images (virtual microscopy). In addition, questions are grouped in 25 content specific modules of 25 questions each, allowing residents and their programs to validate learning objectives, and produce a certificate of participation. Pathologists with Continuing Certification (CC) requirements can earn up to 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM CME/SAMs CME credits per 25 question module for a maximum of 50 credits.

New MLS Online Review Course is a Valuable Tool
for Students

ASCP has launched the new MLS Online Review Course, which helps individuals build confidence in their ability to take the ASCP/ASCPⁱ MLS (Medical Laboratory Scientist) certification examination. The MLS Online Review Course is a concise review, covering the highlights of the content areas on the MLS exam, to help you determine if you are ready to take the exam. With nearly 30 hours of content, the MLS Online Review Course consists of 10 interactive online modules, with nine of the modules highlighting key content areas on the MLS exam, including case studies, real-life scenarios and feedback. The 10th module provides information on the MLS certification process, including computer adaptive testing, what to expect on the day of testing and tips for taking the exam.

Discover New ASCP News Webpages

ASCP has launched a new section of the ascp.org website, ASCP News, to provide members with easy access to timely news, features and scientific content. The new website section also includes a social media feed and links to ASCP’s special interest groups on Facebook, providing members with an opportunity to join the conversation taking place on our social media channels. ASCP News features content from ASCP, our publications (AJCP, Lab Medicine, Critical Values and Lablogatory), and partner publications, including The Pathologist and G2 Intelligence. Through the ASCP News Archive, users can filter for content specific to topic areas of interest, such as ePolicy, Careers or Journals and Partner Publications. On ASCP News, members can also discover recent health care news digest articles provided to all ASCP members by ASCP in affiliation with Bulletin Healthcare. Check it out at www.ascp.org/news.

New Collaboration Broadens ASCP Members’ Access
to Quality Pathology and Diagnostics Content

ASCP has entered into an agreement with G2 Intelligence, a division of Plain Language Media LLP, a leading provider of multimedia specialty information publications that reports on diagnostic industry markets, related regulatory changes and lab operations.

“This strategic alliance combines the strengths of ASCP, the world’s largest professional membership organization for pathologists and laboratory professionals, with G2, which is known for providing timely, accurate and trusted analysis of industry and market trends, legal and regulatory developments, and technology and innovation that directly affect diagnostic testing laboratories and related medical services providers,” says ASCP CEO E. Blair ­Holladay, PhD, MASCP, SCT(ASCP)^CM.

G2 Intelligence will provide ASCP with articles drawn from G2 Intelligence publications, providing relevant, meaningful and actionable information of interest to ASCP members. The articles will be posted on ASCP News, a section of ASCP’s website that is designed to aggregate news and other content relevant to ASCP members.

“For almost 100 years, ASCP has been the premier authority on education, certification and advocacy for pathologists and laboratory professionals,” says ASCP President Melissa P. Upton, MD, FASCP. “By understanding their needs and goals, ASCP has created a range of membership educational products and communications that consistently deliver relevance and value, and that support members at every stage of their career. Thanks to these efforts with G2 Intelligence, ASCP is better able to meet the needs of our members.” 

ASCP’s Joint Initiative with Novartis and ACS to Expand Access to Cancer Treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa

ASCP’s Center for Global Health is collaborating with Novartis and the American Cancer Society to improve access to cancer treatment in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi. The goal is to provide earlier and more effective diagnosis to cancer patients, improving the likelihood for better health outcomes. As a part of this collaboration, ASCP is currently building health care capacity for immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis in seven hospital laboratories, as IHC is required for oncologists to treat many cancers.

Annually, 8 million people worldwide die from cancer. By 2035, that figure is predicted to rise to nearly 15 million cancer-related deaths per year; 70 percent of the burden will fall on countries that are the least equipped to provide diagnosis and patient care. Through this initiative, partners are being connected to national health priorities, strengthening the whole continuum of care for cancer patients, from training for better diagnosis and care and improved access to treatment, through to advocacy for national cancer treatment guidelines.