title: Turnaround time for large or complex specimens in surgical pathology: a College of American Pathologists Q-Probes study of 56 institutions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Turnaround time (TAT) for large or complex surgical pathology specimens is an indicator of efficiency in anatomic pathology and may affect coordination of patient care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish benchmarks for TAT and to identify practice characteristics that may influence TAT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants in a 2012 Q-Probes quality improvement program of the College of American Pathologists retrospectively reviewed all surgical pathology cases from the prior 6 months to identify up to 50 cases coded as Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code 88307 (excluding biopsies) or 88309. Participants reported the times and dates of accessioning and final sign-out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 56 institutions reported on 2763 large or complex cases, which included 70% with CPT code 88307 and 30% with CPT code 88309. Cases requiring special handling comprised 51.5%, and 48.5% were routine. Among all institutions the median TAT was 2.72 calendar days (10th-90th percentile range, 6.23-1.22 days). Longer TAT occurred in governmental institutions (median, 6.06 versus 2.13 days; P < .001) and in institutions that mandate overnight fixation for some specimen types (median, 3.83 versus 2.07 days; P = .03). Longer TAT was associated with CPT code 88309 (median, 3.99 versus 2.82 days; P < .001), special handling (median, 4.13 versus 1.94 days; P < .001), frozen section (median, 3.38 versus 2.92 days; P < .001), radical cancer resection (P < .001), and malignant cases (P < .001). Turnaround time was not significantly affected by either pathology training programs or routine weekend sign-out.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides benchmark data for TAT in large or complex surgical pathology specimens. Turnaround time was good overall, but the range among participating institutions was wide.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, Rex Pathology Associates, Raleigh, North Carolina (Dr Volmar); the Department of Pathology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond (Dr Idowu); the Department of Biostatistics, College of American Pathologists, Northfield, Illinois (Ms Souers); the Department of Pathology, George Washington University, Washington, DC (Dr Karcher); and the Department of Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida (Dr Nakhleh).
authors.forename: Keith E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Volmar
authors.forename: Michael O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Idowu
authors.forename: Rhona J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Souers
authors.forename: Donald S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Karcher
authors.forename: Raouf E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Nakhleh
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D001706:Biopsy; D059019:Clinical Coding; D005260:Female; D016304:Hospitals, Private / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011786:Quality Control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States