The projected employment needs for pathologists are expected to grow by 5% through 2033 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, there are shortages and burnout in the lab. How do you see technology helping with recruitment, retention, and employee satisfaction?
Technology provides a great way to leverage existing resources as well as to fill in gaps where tasks can be automated. There are several key areas:
- Digital pathology / IMS solutions are already proving their impact in the ability to leverage significant efficiency gains with pathologists and in reducing turnaround times and fatigue in mundane tasks. By automating many manual processes and being able to integrate with other applications in the lab to provide the pathologist with streamlined workflows and all of the information they need to diagnose their cases the first time they look at them, we are finding up to 40% efficiency gains and time savings.
- These solutions are also helping healthcare organizations and labs hire and retain pathologists by improving job satisfaction and by increasing their pool to draw from. By not requiring pathologists to relocate or enabling them to work part-time remotely, you are able to draw from pathologists regardless of geographic location. You are also able to leverage retired or outgoing pathologists who may still want to work a day a week or a week a month from their retirement location.
What are some of the artificial intelligence capabilities you see coming in the future of digital pathology?
AI algorithms are now being deployed in these areas:
- As we mainly know them in healthcare as a diagnostic aide. These are increasing speed and accuracy. They are also providing a second set of eyes for the pathologists enabling them to focus on the important areas of diagnosis while algorithms can quickly and accurately do computational work that used to take minutes and reduce that to fractions of a second.
- AI can also be used in things like data research and operational areas for healthcare organizations. For example, if a pathologist needs to research a particular finding or validate a complex diagnosis, they can use AI to find similar cases and information quickly.
- Another area that AI can be used in is for operational efficiencies within an organization. For example, you can identify areas of consistent inefficiency to determine root cause and improve processes, you can generate reports for key findings automatically and compare those instantly to past outputs, again determining operational areas to focus on. Inventory management, reporting, staff retraining, billing, are all areas where AI can show vast improvements for healthcare organizations.
What are ways that digital pathology can make a laboratory more competitive?
There are several — increase accuracy, reduce legal issues (missed diagnosis), increase pathologist job satisfaction (i.e., retention), improved ability to hire in a competitive environment, improve speed and efficiency, and increase business lines or lines of revenue. With digital you can increase your outreach work, provide access to cases for remote customers to diagnosis same day, and reduce shipping and courier costs and the staff associated with those. You can also build a data and image bank that you can leverage for increased revenue.
I read on your company bio that you have a horse farm! Could you tell us more about that?
I can talk all day about our home and horses! I have had horses since I could walk and was thrilled to find that both of my children shared that passion. We both rescue, and invest in, OTTBs (Off the Track Thoroughbreds) to retrain them and give them a second career as event horses or just as companions for easy riding. Whatever they are capable of after their lives on the track, either mentally or physically. My oldest daughter graduated from University of New Hampshire with an Equine Science degree, and she is my barn manager and trainer. Of course, with our land and buildings, people who know me also know I have a huge soft spot for any being in need or distress. So, I have somehow also ended up with a pair of Nigerian dwarf goat brothers — who just turned 21 and a father and son pair of American Guinea Hogs (similar to pot belly pigs) and two dogs. There is never a dull moment around here!
