National Public Radio and FSP
What Do We Have in Common?

by Luis Rey, M.D.
FSP President

Listening to the NPR (National Public Radio) fund-raiser this month, I couldn’t help noticing they raised $800,000 in a matter of only five days! Although the FSP’s constituency certainly is not as broad as that of NPR, we are in the exact same situation. We need your monetary support to keep the daily operations of the society going and our different committees active. None of our current activities or committees, such as educational, legislative, lobbying, legal or membership, can go forward with their respective projects—nor will they survive—without your support.

As you all know, we are the only 100-percent volunteer pathologist, non-for-profit organization dedicated strictly to protecting the interests of pathologists in the state of Florida. As such we survive exclusively on the generous support that each of you give to the society, and in reality it is our only meaningful source of income. Although we would certainly prefer to have a much larger yearly budget so we could more aggressively tackle a greater number of pathology related issues, to a certain extent raising money on a yearly basis keeps us focused on our main mission: to attend to the needs of our members throughout the state. We survive thanks to you, and it is you whom we strive to serve.

Year after year we deplete our PAC and legal fund by providing much needed support for pathology-friendly legislators, legal counseling and lobbying efforts that have served us quite well. The FSP has taken on many important issues, such as making sure we have language favorable to pathology in Florida’s HMO statutes, each year repelling dozens of bills wanting to tie Medicaid to Medicare rates (a very disadvantageous situation for PC-CP) and supporting crucial cases germane to pathology in Florida’s courts, which has resulted in favorable rulings by lower courts and even the Florida Supreme Court (Merckle/Westside case).

Currently we are tackling two major, pressing issues. One of them is trying to address with AHCA the enforcement of the existing Florida anti-markup regulations. The second is the filing of an amicus curiae (friends of the court, see definition below) in support of the 12 pathology groups that have so far successfully sued Health Options Inc. (HOI, BCBS HMO in Florida) in an effort to get reimbursed for the services provided under the professional component of clinical pathology (PC-CP). I could not agree more with CAP’s former legal counsel Jack Bierig when he states that these pathologists need support, which is precisely what the FSP is planning to do by filing the amicus curiae. These two issues will succeed only with appropriate and effective legal counsel, which will run in excess of $25,000 to $30,000. Although this sum may appear large at first sight, this is a small amount to pay for the benefits we collectively as a specialty have to gain, regardless of what type of practice you are in, since these issues permeate all levels of anatomical and clinical pathology.

In this edition of the newsletter, you will find the form for your dues renewal, the $1,000 per pathologists campaign as well as the PAC and legal fund donation forms. I can assure you that your contributions will come back to you many fold, so please fill in the blanks and send your check today. We need your support now more than ever.