Pathways to Excellence URMC DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE | WWW. PATHOLOGY. URMC. EDU | WINTER 2023
remote diagnostics permanently approved after push by nation’s pathologists The pandemic changed the way we all accomplish things, both in personal lives and professional roles. The impact is no greater than in health care, where we have reinvented how we care for patients and keep them and ourselves safe. The forced change has in many cases created improved procedures that may not have been realized otherwise. For pathologists, one newly approved process – long debated even prior to 2020 – has evolved and is here to stay.
NO LONGER EXCEPTIONAL USE Aaron R. Huber, D.O., Director of Surgical Pathology, and Christa Whitney-Miller, M.D., Vice Chair of Anatomic Pathology and Interim Department Chair, were among 76 authors from medical centers across the nation who last fall asked the U.S. Congress to permanently legalize remote diagnostics for patient care. The open letter, published in Nature Medicine, pointed to the
effectiveness of remote diagnostics and asked lawmakers to extend a regulatory exemption that allowed pathologists to review and diagnose patient specimens remotely during the pandemic. The authors called for this change to be permanently written into the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), which was last updated 34 years ago. Although no one can claim the letter Aaron R. Huber, D.O. was the sole reason the change was granted, the voices of so many respected, experienced pathologists are thought to have certainly played a role. “We are all pleased with the decision,” Huber said. “We expected Continued on page 2
IN THIS ISSUE From the Chair.................................................................. 3
A First for Pediatric Pathology........................................... 5
Pathology Snapshots......................................................... 4
Focus on Faculty................................................................ 6