A quiet inefficiency plays out across hospital networks throughout the country, one that costs significant revenue, strains clinicians and ultimately affects the quality and speed of patient care. It's what I like to refer to as the “traveling pathologist” problem, and for many healthcare organizations, it has simply become an accepted cost of doing business.
The good news? It doesn't have to be.
How Hospital Networks Move Pathology
To understand the problem, it helps to understand how most hospital systems currently operate. Pathology departments depend on a network of couriers to transport critical materials between facilities. These materials can include:
For routine cases, this process works reasonably well. Slides are transported, read and results expected in a predictable timeframe.
But even then, there’s a risk.
Physical specimens and glass slides are irreplaceable. A traffic accident, a misplaced package or a courier delay can result in lost or damaged patient material that simply cannot be recreated. A patient's cancer diagnosis could rely on a single glass slide making it safely across town.
As significant as that risk is, however, it's not the costliest aspect of how pathology services are delivered today. The bigger problem comes when a case requires a pathologist to be physically present in real time.
When the Pathologist Has to Show Up in Person
Certain procedures in modern pathology demand immediate, on-site interpretation. Two of the most common are Frozen Sections and Rapid On-Site Evaluation (ROSE) procedures.
A frozen section, conducted during Intraoperative Consultations, is a common technique where tissue removed during surgery is rapidly processed and examined by a pathologist while the patient is still on the operating table. The surgeon needs to know whether margins are clear, a mass is malignant and whether to proceed.
A ROSE procedure involves a cytopathologist evaluating a fine needle aspiration sample to confirm that an adequate specimen has been collected for diagnosis. Similar to frozen sections, the assessment is needed immediately.
Both of these procedures have traditionally required the pathologist to physically travel to the site where the procedure takes place. And that's where the problem begins.
The Real Cost of the Road
When a pathologist is called to travel to a remote facility to support a frozen section or ROSE procedure, the institution is essentially paying with time.
Consider this scenario:
A pathologist at a centralized hospital is needed at a facility 90 minutes away. That round trip is more than three hours of the pathologist's day. At a productivity rate of approximately $1,000 in revenue generated per hour reading cases at the microscope, that's $3,000 in lost billing opportunity.
But there’s more. Surgery cannot begin until the pathologist arrives. That's another 30 minutes of an OR suite sitting idle, a surgical team waiting and a patient under anesthesia or anxious in pre-op. With the average frozen section case requiring approximately 2.4 frozen reads, the pathologist will be interpreting multiple samples before they can make the return trip.
The revenue generated from reading those two frozen sections is approximately $140. The opportunity cost of the time spent traveling and away from the microscope? Roughly $4,000. The net loss to the institution for a single case: nearly $3,860, not including the cost of a chauffeur-driven vehicle, which is standard practice for pathologist transport in many health systems.
According to peer-reviewed research published in JAMA Surgery, the average cost of one minute of operating room (OR) time is approximately $37, depending on the health center and the complexity of the case. A 30-minute wait for a pathologist to arrive is over $1,100 in idle OR costs alone.
If you multiply that by the number of remote cases a hospital network handles each month, the financial loss is tremendous.
Mikroscan's Answer: Eliminate the Trip Entirely
This is the problem Mikroscan was built to solve. Through live telemicroscopy and digital pathology technology (Research use only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures), Mikroscan systems allow a pathologist to remotely control a robotic microscope in real time, examining the original glass slide from anywhere in the world, with the same level of control and visual fidelity they would have sitting at the bench.
When a frozen section is needed at a facility, a car is no longer the answer. The slide is placed under the Mikroscan system, and, within moments, the pathologist is connected and navigating the tissue remotely, delivering a real-time interpretation without leaving their location.
As a result, surgery starts on time, the pathologist remains productive, the facility captures revenue rather than losing it, and the patient receives faster expert care.
The Future of Pathology Is Already Here
The traveling pathologist problem doesn’t have to be an inevitable feature of modern medicine. Technology like Mikroscan’s is already taking the reins to deliver promising solutions.
For hospital administrators watching revenue walk out the door, and for pathologists who have spent too many hours in the back of a car, the answer you’re looking for isn’t a road trip.
To learn more about Mikroscan's telemicroscopy and digital pathology solutions and get a live demo, contact us today.