TRANSFORMING PATHOLOGY:The Ingredients for ChangeA Chef’s Husband’s View

Jared N. Schwartz, MD, PhDPresident, College of American Pathologists

Transforming Pathology:The Ingredients for ChangeA Chef’s Husband’s View

Jared N. Schwartz, MD, PhDPresident, College of American

Pathologists

A Chef’s Husbands View

What’s changing that will require pathologists to transform?• Patients• Primary Care Physicians• How Care is Delivered & By Whom• Technology

What does the consumer want? • High quality• Convenience• Fast & accurate information• Trust & confidence

Help!• Fast and accurate

results• Understandable and

useful information• Direction on therapy

What does the patient’s treating physician want?

…and sometimes that primary care provider isn’t a physician“Nurse practitioners with master’s

degrees are already filling the primary care shortages and providing quality, cost-effective care, many times in places that physicians are unwilling to practice.”

Wendy VogelNurse Practitioner, OncologyBlue Ridge Medical Specialists, TNWSJ, April 2, 2008

Patients & physicians want a full course meal, not just the appetizer

Am I at risk of developing cancer?

Is there a chance I have cancer today?

Do I have cancer today and what type is it?

Has my cancer spread and how aggressive is it?

What are the most effective & safe therapies for me?

Is my therapy working with acceptable toxicity?

Has my cancer come back?

Risk Assessment

Screening

Differential Diagnosis

Treatment Selection

Treatment Monitoring

Surveillance

Prognosis & Staging

Are we defining our contribution to patient care

too narrowly?

“…but all I know how to do are liver biopsies!”

What barriers exist?• Payment• Information• Technology (e.g., gene patents)• Lack of agreement on integrating role• Education• Lack of interoperability; software issues,

security issues• Mindsets

Are we responsible for the appetizer or the whole enchilada?

Pathologists have the opportunity to fulfill many roles• Innovator• Test Provider• Interpreter• Data Integrator• Clinical Consultant

Pathologists have the necessary ingredients to provide answers, but…

… it’s not about the

tools

The Perfect Dish requires the right mindset• Have an open mind to new ideas,

technologies, and ways of practice• Acknowledge market forces driving

changes in your practice• Engage the change• Be life long learners• Develop new skills and leverage core

knowledge

Interact with patients and other clinicians• Broaden your sphere of influence• Expand beyond the tissue on the slide—all

diagnostic tools are available to you• Market your services for consults • Expand value by influencing prognosis

and treatment

…be a part of the treatment team

“Students need to learn how to think critically, how to argue opposing ideas. It is important for them to learn how to think. You can always cook.”

~ Charlie Trotter

Futurescape 2008 offers ingredients to spice up your practice with new ideas and opportunities

Futurescape is providing you a taste of the future…• Jose Costa, MD• Mara Aspinall• Jennifer Hunt, MD, MEd• James Versalovic, MD, PhD• John Tomaszewski, MD

… from pathology’s ‘Top Chefs’

New technology and applications expand the opportunity menu• Michael W. Vannier, MD• Carl Jaffe, MD• Bruce Friedman, MD• Robert Brown, MD• Ron Weinstein, MD• King Li, MD

… and how some are making the recipes work in their practice• Ronnie Garner, MD• Liron Pantanowitz, MD• Richard Friedberg, MD, PhD• Erin Grimm, MD• Rodney Schmidt, MD• Eric Walk, MD

“I keep coming back to the question: When is food good? And the answer

always begins with proud cooks. People who take pride in performing what really

amounts to alchemy.”

~ Anthony Bourdain

“I was 32 when I started cooking; up

until then, I just ate.”

~ Julia Child

TRANSFORMING PATHOLOGY:Emerging technology driving practice

innovation