FOR PATHOLOGY, FOR OUR MEMBERS, FOR OUR PATIENTS!
Dear Colleagues,
I want to sincerely thank my fellow CAP members for electing me to a second term as a member of the CAP Board of Governors. It has been my distinct honor to serve as a CAP Governor since 2016. After serving as an elected leader in the academic pathology community and for many years as an active member and chair of several CAP committees, councils, and other groups, becoming a CAP Governor has allowed me to continue to serve our profession, our members, and our patients in a variety of ways.
I've focused much of my work in the CAP on . . .
PLEASE READ AHEAD TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MY BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE, THE ISSUES FACING PATHOLOGY AND THE CAP, AND MY GOALS AS A CAP GOVERNOR.
Medical and pathology practice are changing, as the emerging value-based health care system takes hold and as new technology becomes part of daily practice. In this changing environment, the critical work pathologists do must continue to be appropriately recognized and fairly rewarded, and pathologists must be properly supported as we innovate for the future. We need strong leadership and a strong and effective CAP to help achieve these goals.
From my work with the CAP and my long experience as a . . .
Some examples of my work in the CAP and beyond:
CAP Board, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Audit Committee, and IT Leadership Committee - As a current member of the Board of Governors and these key Board committees, I'm working hard to keep the CAP strategically focused, operationally effective, and fiscally sound.
Chair, CAP Council on Government and Professional Affairs (member since 2011, chair 2017-2019) - I'm helping lead the CAP's efforts to protect payment for pathology and lab services (by both government and private payers), maintain a favorable regulatory environment for pathologists and clinical labs, and keep pathologists on the cutting edge in the use of emerging technology in daily practice.
Chair, CAP Council on Education - I'm working with fellow CAP members and the CAP Learning and Publications Departments to ensure that CAP educational activities are the best available for pathologists in all practice settings and that CAP journals and publications provide essential information for clinical and research excellence, practice success, and quality clinical laboratory services.
Pathology Pipeline Initiative - I currently lead a CAP initiative, involving multiple CAP councils, the Resident Forum, and the House of Delegates, to increase the visibility of pathology as an exciting and rewarding medical specialty and to attract more of the best and brightest medical students to choose a career in pathology.
Workforce and new-in-practice pathologists - As a member of the CAP Pathology Workforce/GME Workgroup, I'm working to help maintain an adequate pathology workforce, improve the effectiveness of pathology residency training, and help new-in-practice pathologists to be better prepared for successful practice.
Value-based care and pathologists - For many years, I've helped lead the CAP's efforts to prepare pathologists for new value-based care delivery and payment models (MACRA, MIPS, ACOs, bundled payments, etc.).
Informatics - I’ve worked for several years in the CAP and other organizations on laboratory informatics-related advocacy, educational, and operational activities. I'm a member of the CAP IT Leadership Committee and currently working on emerging new informatics aspects of pathology practice, including artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.
Academic and medical educational issues - As an academic pathologist, department chair for 20 years, residency program director, and Past President of the Association of Pathology Chairs, I’ve worked extensively on academic pathology and educational issues and am continuing to provide effective liaison between the CAP and the academic pathology community.
Dear Colleagues,
I want to sincerely thank my fellow CAP members for electing me to a second term as a member of the CAP Board of Governors. It has been my distinct honor to serve as a CAP Governor since 2016. After serving as an elected leader in the academic pathology community and for many years as an active member and chair of several CAP committees, councils, and other groups, becoming a CAP Governor has allowed me to continue to serve our profession, our members, and our patients in a variety of ways.
I've focused much of my work in the CAP on . . .
- Fighting for fair payment for pathology and lab services and a favorable regulatory environment for pathologists and clinical labs
- Ensuring CAP educational activities and publications are great resources for pathologists and clinical laboratories
- Encouraging the best and brightest students to choose pathology as a career
- Helping young pathologists get a good start in their careers and become active members (and emerging leaders!) in the CAP
- Keeping the CAP as a strong advocate for our profession and a great resource (for continuing education, practice management, networking, etc.) for our members
PLEASE READ AHEAD TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MY BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE, THE ISSUES FACING PATHOLOGY AND THE CAP, AND MY GOALS AS A CAP GOVERNOR.
Medical and pathology practice are changing, as the emerging value-based health care system takes hold and as new technology becomes part of daily practice. In this changing environment, the critical work pathologists do must continue to be appropriately recognized and fairly rewarded, and pathologists must be properly supported as we innovate for the future. We need strong leadership and a strong and effective CAP to help achieve these goals.
From my work with the CAP and my long experience as a . . .
- full-time practicing AP-CP pathologist (currently in academic practice, previously in private community hospital-based practice)
- academic department chair
- CLIA lab director
- pathology residency program director
- elected academic pathology leader (Past President, Association of Pathology Chairs, term ending in 2018) . . .
Some examples of my work in the CAP and beyond:
CAP Board, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Audit Committee, and IT Leadership Committee - As a current member of the Board of Governors and these key Board committees, I'm working hard to keep the CAP strategically focused, operationally effective, and fiscally sound.
Chair, CAP Council on Government and Professional Affairs (member since 2011, chair 2017-2019) - I'm helping lead the CAP's efforts to protect payment for pathology and lab services (by both government and private payers), maintain a favorable regulatory environment for pathologists and clinical labs, and keep pathologists on the cutting edge in the use of emerging technology in daily practice.
Chair, CAP Council on Education - I'm working with fellow CAP members and the CAP Learning and Publications Departments to ensure that CAP educational activities are the best available for pathologists in all practice settings and that CAP journals and publications provide essential information for clinical and research excellence, practice success, and quality clinical laboratory services.
Pathology Pipeline Initiative - I currently lead a CAP initiative, involving multiple CAP councils, the Resident Forum, and the House of Delegates, to increase the visibility of pathology as an exciting and rewarding medical specialty and to attract more of the best and brightest medical students to choose a career in pathology.
Workforce and new-in-practice pathologists - As a member of the CAP Pathology Workforce/GME Workgroup, I'm working to help maintain an adequate pathology workforce, improve the effectiveness of pathology residency training, and help new-in-practice pathologists to be better prepared for successful practice.
Value-based care and pathologists - For many years, I've helped lead the CAP's efforts to prepare pathologists for new value-based care delivery and payment models (MACRA, MIPS, ACOs, bundled payments, etc.).
Informatics - I’ve worked for several years in the CAP and other organizations on laboratory informatics-related advocacy, educational, and operational activities. I'm a member of the CAP IT Leadership Committee and currently working on emerging new informatics aspects of pathology practice, including artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.
Academic and medical educational issues - As an academic pathologist, department chair for 20 years, residency program director, and Past President of the Association of Pathology Chairs, I’ve worked extensively on academic pathology and educational issues and am continuing to provide effective liaison between the CAP and the academic pathology community.
Receiving 2015 Pathologist-of-the-Year Award from CAP President Richard Friedberg
CURRENT POSITION
Professor and Immediate Past Chair of Pathology
Director, Pathology Residency Program
George Washington University Medical Center
Washington, DC
Below are details about my career, my current and past activities in the CAP and other organizations, important issues facing pathologists and the CAP, and my goals as a member of the CAP Board of Governors.
EDUCATION
RECENT AWARDS AND HONORS
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
CAP BOARD, COUNCIL, AND COMMITTEE SERVICE
Current
CAP PUBLISHING AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
SERVICE TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS - Present and Past
MAJOR ISSUES FACING PATHOLOGISTS AND THE CAP
MY GOALS AS A MEMBER OF THE CAP BOARD OF GOVERNORS
AS A MEMBER ORGANIZATION, ALL CAP ACTIVITIES MUST STRONGLY SUPPORT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE NEEDS OF CAP MEMBERS.
I was truly honored to be re-elected in 2019 to a second term as a CAP Governor. I will continue to do my best to live up to the trust placed in me by CAP members.
Respectfully yours,
Don Karcher
P.S. I'd be happy to answer questions you might have. My email address is dkarcher@mfa.gwu.edu.
CURRENT POSITION
Professor and Immediate Past Chair of Pathology
Director, Pathology Residency Program
George Washington University Medical Center
Washington, DC
Below are details about my career, my current and past activities in the CAP and other organizations, important issues facing pathologists and the CAP, and my goals as a member of the CAP Board of Governors.
EDUCATION
- Medical School – Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans
- Internship and Residency – Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
RECENT AWARDS AND HONORS
- CAP Pathologist-of-the-Year - 2015
- CAP President’s Honors - 2013, 2019
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
- College of American Pathologists
- Association of Pathology Chairs
- American Society for Clinical Pathology
- United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology
- Society for Hematopathology
- American Society for Investigative Pathology
- Association of American Medical Colleges
- American Medical Association
- Academy of Medicine of Washington, DC
CAP BOARD, COUNCIL, AND COMMITTEE SERVICE
Current
- Chair, Council on Government and Professional Affairs (CGPA)
- Member, Board of Governors
- Member, Executive Committee
- Member, Finance Committee
- Member, Information Technology Leadership Committee
- Member, Specialty Advancement Coordinating Group
- Member, Pathology Workforce/GME Workgroup
- Member, Policy Roundtable Steering Committee
- Member, Executive Advisory Board, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
- CAP Representative to Pathology Roundtable (Moderator, Pathology Roundtable)
- Delegation Chair, House of Delegates
- Chair, ACO Network and ACO Steering Committee
- Chair, Value-Based Care Strategy Steering Group
- Vice-Chair, Council on Education
- Co-Chair, CAP/APC/API Informatics Curriculum Core Team (developed national PIER curriculum for pathology residents)
- Member, DIHIT/CGPA Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Workgroup
- Member, ACO-HIT Workgroup
- Member, Enterprise Strategy for Informatics Advisory Group
- Member, TPOSC Module III: Practice Models and Economics Workgroup
- Member, OPPE-FPPE Task Force
- Member, Quality Practices Committee
- CAP Representative to ACO Learning Collaborative (formerly Brookings/Dartmouth ACO Learning Network)
CAP PUBLISHING AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
- Co-Editor and author, 2nd Edition (2019) of CAP publication Laboratory Administration for Pathologists
- CAP Annual Meeting Faculty – 2011-2019 (total of 17 courses and workshops)
- CAP Policy Meeting Faculty – 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019
- CAP House of Delegates Meeting Faculty – 2012 (both Spring and Fall meetings), 2013, 2018 (both Spring and Fall meetings), 2019 (both Spring and Fall meetings)
- CAP Resident Forum Faculty – 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
- CAP Webinars – 2013-2019 (14 webinars)
SERVICE TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS - Present and Past
- Association of Pathology Chairs (APC): President-Elect, President, Immediate Past President (term ended July, 2018); Council (Board) Member; Councilor-at-Large; Chair, Advocacy Committee; Chair, HIT Committee
- Intersociety Council for Pathology Information (ICPI): Current Board Member
- American Board of Pathology (ABPath): Current Member, Test Development and Advisory Committee (Lab Management and Informatics)
- Pathology Roundtable: Current Moderator and CAP Representative
- Editorial Board (current), Academic Pathology
- Editorial Board (current), Health and Medical Informatics
- Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME): Advisor, Clinical Informatics Fellowship Program Requirements; Advisor, Clinical Informatics Fellowship Milestones
- Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC): Member, Group on Educational Affairs; Member, Council of Faculty and Academic Societies (CFAS); Member, CFAS Leadership Development Committee; Member, CFAS Nominating Committee; Member, CFAS Advocacy Task Force; Member, CFAS Value Proposition Working Group
- Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Learning Collaborative (formally Brookings-Dartmouth ACO Learning Network): Principle CAP Representative (as Chair of the CAP ACO Network)
- National Pathology Workforce Summit (co-sponsored by CAP, APC, ASCP, and USCAP): Member, Steering Committee; Member, MD Survey Task Force
- Universities Associated for Research and Education in Pathology: Board Member
- American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP): Member, Education Committee
- District of Columbia Department of Health: Appointed by DC Mayor and currently serving as Commissioner and Member, Advisory Committee on Clinical Laboratory Practitioners
- Academy of Medicine of Washington, DC: Elected Member
MAJOR ISSUES FACING PATHOLOGISTS AND THE CAP
- Continuing payment and coverage challenges - The CAP must remain vigilant and continue to advocate strongly for full coverage and fair payment for the diagnostic, consultative, and laboratory directorship services we provide.
- Federal, state, and local regulatory challenges – The CAP must continue to protect pathologists and the clinical laboratory from excessive regulatory controls at all levels.
- New care delivery and payment models – The CAP must continue to help its members to succeed under the emerging new value-based care delivery and payment models, including the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), as part of MACRA, and ACOs, bundled payments, and other alternative payment models.
- Opportunities and risks related to emerging new technology – The CAP must help ensure that pathologists continue to lead in the development and use of new diagnostic and clinical management technology (e.g. genomics, digital pathology, artificial intelligence/machine learning in diagnostic and clinical management systems, etc.)
- Pathologist workforce issues – The CAP must closely monitor the balance between the supply of pathologists and the demand for pathologist services (both traditional and newly emerging services) and be prepared to strongly and quickly address any imbalance. Given recent recruitment statistics, the CAP must work with the academic pathology community and other pathology organizations to encourage more students to choose pathology as a career. The CAP must also advocate for adequate federal support for pathology graduate medical education. Finally, the CAP must do all it can to ensure that all pathologists keep a sense of wellness in their professional lives.
- Challenges to pathologists' scope-of-practice - The CAP must prevent other providers from taking over traditional or newly emerging services that are more appropriate for pathologists to perform.
- Communication of the value of pathology and pathologists to key stakeholders - The CAP must clearly and effectively communicate the value pathologists bring to quality patient care and to the overall health care system. This communication must be with policymakers, payers, health care system leaders, other providers, and particularly patients/patient advocacy groups.
- Increasing competition in the proficiency testing marketplace - The CAP must continue to provide top quality proficiency testing materials and develop more customer-friendly, electronically-based reporting methodology for proficiency testing results.
- CAP Organizational challenges and opportunities – The CAP must continue to optimize its systems (particularly its information systems and the CAP website) and strengthen its focus to address the challenges facing the pathology community and to take full advantage of available domestic and increasingly global opportunities. In addition, the CAP must carefully manage its financial resources to ensure that it can continue to effectively fulfill its many missions.
MY GOALS AS A MEMBER OF THE CAP BOARD OF GOVERNORS
- Ensure that pathologists' scope-of-practice and payment are protected and appropriately maintained
- Protect pathologists and clinical laboratories from unnecessary and/or burdensome regulations
- Enable pathologists to succeed and thrive under the emerging value-based health care delivery and payment system
- Keep pathology at the cutting edge in the use of innovative new technology (e.g. genomics, digital pathology, artificial intelligence/machine learning) in laboratory diagnosis and clinical patient management
- Facilitate communication of the value of pathology and pathologists to key stakeholders at all levels
- Maintain an appropriate balance between the supply of and demand for pathologists and ensure that the next generation of pathologists is well-prepared for the modern practice of pathology
- Encourage more of the best and brightest medical students to choose pathology as a career
- Ensure adequate federal support for pathology graduate medical education
- Help all pathologists keep a sense of wellness in their professional lives
- Keep the CAP as the preeminent continuing education provider for all practicing pathologists
- Ensure a reasonable process, not based on a single high-stakes examination, for continuing certification by the American Board of Pathology
- Make the committee, council, and Board leadership of the CAP look like its members, who are increasingly women and minorities
- Support and strengthen all state pathology societies
- Continue to strengthen cooperation and collaboration between the CAP and the academic pathology community
- Ensure the CAP continues as the market leader in providing accreditation and proficiency testing systems for clinical laboratories, both domestically and internationally
- Help the CAP optimize its systems, particularly its information systems and the CAP website
- Keep the CAP as the quality and practice standard setter in pathology and laboratory medicine, a maximally effective advocate for pathologists, and a valuable resource for all CAP members
AS A MEMBER ORGANIZATION, ALL CAP ACTIVITIES MUST STRONGLY SUPPORT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THE NEEDS OF CAP MEMBERS.
I was truly honored to be re-elected in 2019 to a second term as a CAP Governor. I will continue to do my best to live up to the trust placed in me by CAP members.
Respectfully yours,
Don Karcher
P.S. I'd be happy to answer questions you might have. My email address is dkarcher@mfa.gwu.edu.
