UPDATE

October 20, 2017

 
Bill to Fix Work Comp Issue for Physicians Is
Signed by Governor

SB 189 (Bradford) is the CSP supported bill to fix a provision in law passed last year that made many pathologist owners in groups employees, thus subject to mandatory Work Comp coverage, unless they had at least a 15% ownership interest in the group. SB 189 would exempt from that ownership threshold if;
  • The individual is an owner of a professional corporation,
  • Is a practitioner rendering professional services
  • He or she executes a waiver indicating they are insured under a health plan
  • It remains effective until a notice of withdrawal is filed
SB 189 has a delayed effective date until 7/1/18 meaning that if you are an owner of a pathology group with less than a 15% ownership you could still be subject to inclusion on the Work Comp policy as an employee until 7/1/18. 

Bills Signed to Help Clinical Labs

The CSP is supporting two bills that were signed by the Governor and take effect on 1/1/18.  AB 658 (Waldron) would eliminate clinical lab licensing fees for a two-year period from 2018-2019. Several State Auditor reports have highlighted the shortcomings of Lab Field Services in overseeing the licensing of clinical labs. They had a number of recommendations and also criticized the overcharging of labs with the accumulation of a $22 million reserve. We assume LFS will publish a notice on the fee waiver.
 
AB 659 (Ridley-Thomas) would change the current requirements for clinical labs to submit payment data to DHCS for purposes of Medi-Cal rate development. Current law requires many clinical labs to report payment data from private payers on an annual basis.  AB 659 would change that submission requirement to once every three years beginning in 2019 and would also specify that the adjusted rates would be implemented on July 1, 2020 and July 1st of every three years thereafter. The bill signed by the Governor would change the current process which is unduly burdensome, has low participation, and often results in retroactive adjustment to lab rates. 

Report on CAP House of Delegates Meeting

Here is a link to the report from California delegation chair Dr. Robert Freedman on the recent meeting of the CAP House of Delegates. A subject of much discussion was the adoption of AB 2325 last year that requires a pathologist who makes a cancer diagnosis to provide a copy of the report, either electronically submit a copy of their current report information or utilize the CAP eCancer checklist and provide a synoptic report of the case. The requirement does not take effect until 1/1/19 and the CSP continues to work on the reporting specifics and will be providing additional information and tools for pathologists. Our efforts will be to make available numerous reporting options, securing funding for necessary software, and seeking compensation for pathologists for any reporting obligations.
 
More to follow at our upcoming Annual Meeting and via member email blasts.  

CSP 70th Annual Meeting
Registration Now Open

November 28 - December 2, 2017
Hyatt Regency San Francisco
5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111

Registration is now open for California Society of Pathologist's platinum anniversary of our 70th Annual Meeting! Join distinguished speakers from across the country and participate in this outstanding educational program along with fellow pathologists.

The CME sessions feature an array of current topics in pathology including: 

Short Courses
Gastroesophageal Biopsies  - Rhonda Yantiss, MD 
Cytologic and Histologic Evaluation Salivary Gland Tumors  - William Faquin, MD, PhD 
Soft Tissue Tumors  - Christopher Fletcher, MD and Jason Hornick, MD, PhD
Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) - Kevin Leslie, MD and Lynette Sholl, MD
Dermatopathology - Scott Binder, MD; and Kerri Rieger, MD, PhD
 
Special Lecture
Cancer Immunotherapy :  How did we get here and where are we going? 
Lynette Sholl, MD
 
Saturday Case Seminar
Diagnostic Problems in Surgical Pathology 
Moderator: Donna Hansel, MD, PhD
Presentations from Scott Binder, MD; Jason Hornick, MD, PhD; Kevin Leslie, MD; Andres Roma, MD; Lynette Sholl, MD; and Qihui (Jim) Zhai, MD
 
Courses will provide opportunities to receive Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits and short courses will provide Self-Assessment Module credit (SAMs). 

 
California Society of Pathologists
One Capitol Mall Suite 800
Sacramento, CA 95814 
Tel : 916-446-6001
Fax :  916-444-7462