What Is A Pathologist?

Medicine is made up of many specialties. Most of us know you see a cardiologist for a heart problem, a dermatologist for skin problems and a gynecologist for women's health issues. When then, do you see a pathologist? Maybe never, but they see you.

Pathologists are physicians who diagnose and treat patients through laboratory medicine. When your cardiologist orders blood tests, a pathologist reviews the results for abnormalities; when your dermatologist removes a skin lesion for biopsy, a pathologist decides if it is cancerous; and when your gynecologist does a Pap test, a pathologist determines the result of the slide.

Sometimes called the "doctor's doctor," pathologists work on your medical team along with your general physician and any other necessary specialists.

By analyzing routine tests, pathologists alert your physician to any changes in your health early, when successful treatment is most likely. Pathologists use lab tests to either identify a disease or to rule out other diseases that could impact a patient's health or the public's well-being. Pathologists manage the blood supply at hospitals, making sure it is safe for patients. Pathologists investigate unknown deaths - potentially revealing a hereditary disease to a patient's family.

What We Do

If a doctor orders testing of a specimen of your blood, urine, or other tissue, the specimen will be sent to the medical laboratory for analysis. The laboratory is directed by a pathologist, a physician who specializes in laboratory medicine. The pathologist is responsible for assuring that the results of all laboratory tests are clinically reliable and are reported to the doctor in a timely manner. It is important for you to understand what pathologists do for patients in the laboratory. Sometimes, pathologists review biopsied tissue under a microscope to determine whether or not the tissue indicates the presence of disease and, if so, what specific kind of disease. They will report their findings to the ordering doctor. These services are known as anatomic pathology services.

Where blood, urine, stool, or similar material is sent to the laboratory, a pathologist may not have to review the specific specimen. Rather, in these situations, pathologists are responsible for the quality assurance and quality control. They provide medical supervision of the technicians and technologists who work in the laboratory. They must be available to address problems that arise in the laboratory regarding specific results. Moreover, they must be available to answer any questions that your doctor might have about your laboratory results. As a physician, he/she assists your doctor in ordering appropriate follow-up tests. Pathologists' services in directing the medical laboratory to assure the timeliness, reliability, and usefulness of test results are referred to as the professional component of clinical pathology services.

If laboratory work is done while at the hospital, you will receive a separate bill for the pathologist's services. The bill will include charges for the pathologist's direct, anatomic pathology services with respect to biopsied tissue. It will also include charges for the pathologist's professional component services relating to specimens that were tested in the laboratory. PATIENTS MAY RECEIVE A BILL FOR PROFESSIONAL COMPONENT SERVICES FOR SUPERVISION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE CLINICAL LAB.

These charges are made so that we can continue to offer the quality laboratory work that is essential to the proper diagnosis and treatment of your condition. If you have any questions about pathology services or the bills for such services that you receive from the pathologist, please call Pathology Consultants, Inc., Billing Office at (800)809-0468.

Frequently Asked Questions