Should ordering physicians be required to disclose their costs when billing patients or insurers for outsourced anatomic pathology or cytology services? The College of American Pathologists (CAP) believes the answer is yes.

"Full and open disclosure Of anatomic pathology or cytology services serves the interests of concerned parties, including patients, enforcement entities, and third-party payers and deters fraud and other unlawful conduct that escalates patient health-care costs," the CAP and Tennessee Society of Pathologists (TSP) wrote in a March 29 memorandum in support of legislation pending before the state legislature. Tennessee Senate Bill 2846 and House Bill 3131 would amend state law by requiring a physician to disclose on a bill or statement the name and address of a laboratory used for anatomic pathology or cytology services and the net amount paid to the laboratory.

In the memo, CAP and TSP note that the legislation is consistent with disclosure standards in the American Medical Association's ethics policy. What's more, said the groups, 10 other states already have mandatory disclosure for pathology costs: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont.

Requiring disclosure of costs by ordering physicians who bill patients will discourage mark-ups for anatomic pathology and cytology services and "instill confidence" in the ethics of Tennessee's health care system, argue the CAP and TSP. "It should be apparent that added charges to the cost of anatomic pathology and cytology services needlessly inflate health care costs and should be deterred by disclosure or prefer-ably avoided, as would be the case under direct billing for these services," the groups wrote.

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