Australasian Society of Anatomical Pathologists

Welcome to the Anatomical Pathology Society homepage.

The Australasian Society of Anatomical Pathologists Ltd (ASAP) ACN 130-161-198

---

Message to all Australasian Anatomical Pathologists

This new Society was registered as a company in NSW on 13-3-08 to represent the needs of Anatomical Pathologists, to strengthen the professional standards, and to ensure the integrity and financial viability of anatomical pathology (AP).

The Constitution concentrates on the specialty of Anatomical Pathology and includes clauses strengthening fellows’ protection against conflicts of interests that may arise in negotiations with Government or other bodies.

The Society is needed for a number of reasons.

A. General Representation for Anatomical Pathologists
There is no organisation currently representing the specific needs of Anatomical Pathologists and Anatomical Pathology Training in the political arena, nor at undergraduate nor post graduate teaching levels.

Changes in the administration of the College and the ownership of pathology practices have resulted in the displacement of Anatomical Pathologists from their former position of pre-eminence, both in the College and in laboratory based medicine. Our Society will aim to reverse that trend.

The corporatisation of both private and public pathology has occurred without the College providing leadership and an effective voice for Fellows’ needs, particularly in negotiations with corporate entities. Our Society will assume this function.

B. Education, Training and Maintenance of Standards
ASAP is deeply concerned about the current trend towards downgrading pathology, in particular anatomical pathology, in the new medical curricula. This will diminish the knowledge base of the new generation of medical graduates and lead to lack of exposure to practicing pathologists. We need to lobby medical school administrators, state government politicians and the media against this trend to ensure that there is a new generation of medical graduates who may consider anatomical pathology as a rewarding career and anatomical pathology as a viable medical specialty.

ASAP is also concerned about proposals to reduce training time in Anatomical Pathology, particularly under the guise of “competency-based” assessment, without any evidence that standards can be achieved and maintained. Any reduction in training time will only give a one-year injection of increased numbers of Anatomical Pathologists into the medical workforce and should not be done at the expense of standards. ASAP understands that such matters have led to the recent changes in the RCPA Board of Censors and would work to ensure, through the gathering of expert information, that any changes in the training and assessment of anatomical pathologists does not lead to a reduction in standards of practice.

Our Society will also aim to maintain and improve sponsored quality assurance programs in AP.

C. Key Medico-political Issues
The ASAP will aim to provide more adequate representation on the Pathology Consultative Committee (PCC) to negotiate increases in the Commonwealth Medical Benefits Schedule for AP tests that would cover the actual costs, both technical and professional, of performing all the histology and cytology tests. The College representatives on that committee (PCC), currently a medical administrator, a haematologist and a clinical chemist, have not adequately argued the College’s recently amended policy that requires a redistribution of CMB funding across the pathology disciplines based on actual costs. Instead, the College’s representatives have condoned the long established convention that each discipline receives a fixed percentage of the CMB pathology expenditure, based on figures established when few tests were automated and AP reports were much less detailed than they now are. The PCC still largely maintains that any increases in CMB fees for one AP test must be funded by cuts in another AP test, and not taken from the more profitable automated tests. The RCPA QAP Company’s benchmark figures clearly show funding shortfalls between the schedule fees and the actual costs of doing AP tests. Our Society will lobby the Government for changes. The time is up for the current mal-distribution of Medicare funds. The Government must look at different funding models.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Full membership of the Society is open to medical practitioners who are practicing anatomical pathology as a specialist pathologist in Australasia.

The entry fee for foundation members, that is those who join before 30 June, 2009, will be $30 (including GST), which will cover the $10 limited liability guarantee per member and leave $20 per member for initial setting up costs. We hope to have the first general meeting before July 1, 2008 when the annual subscription amount will be decided.

The strength of the organization and the cost of the annual subscription will depend entirely on the size of the Fellowship and the activities we pursue.

The greater the size of this Society, the greater will be its impact on the conduct of the College and on the attitude of Government to AP and to laboratory based specialist pathologists. We urge you to become inaugural fellows by promptly printing, completing and forwarding the
Application Form


Please email any enquiries to the Hon. Sec. at: phil.allen@fmc.sa.gov.au



Arthur Fischer, Inaugural President
Lloyd Mc Guire, Inaugural Vice President
Phil Allen, Inaugural Secretary
Edward Chandraratnam, Inaugural Treasurer