Dear WSP Members,

I want to provide some important society updates as we approach the end of another fiscal year. It has obviously been a challenging few months for all of us as we work through dramatic changes to work and personal lives due to COVID-19. For the society, we unfortunately had to cancel our Spring, 2020, educational conference, as many other societies did as well. Since we would normally hold elections for new board members at our annual conference, we decided to continue with current slate of board members until we are able to hold new elections, likely in Spring, 2021.

The upcoming 2020-2021 year brings similar challenges. Our society has two major components, one being educational and one related to advocacy.  We are actively discussing educational plans for the next year. At this point it is not clear whether or not an in person conference will be possible for Spring, 2021. As we see how COVID-19 evolves over the coming months we will continue to meet and discuss alternate educational plans, such as webinar based education.

On the advocacy front, we will continue to work with the College of American Pathologists and the Wisconsin Medical Society on legislative issues important to pathology. Of particular significance is out-of-network billing, which has seen varying degrees of attention from state and national legislatures over the past few years. This issue will likely resurface in some form during the coming year and it will be critical for our society to continue to represent Wisconsin pathologists.

Finally, recognizing the financial impact COVID-19 has put on individuals, we are discounting our normal membership dues from $175 to $100 annually for active and associate members and will extend complementary memberships to residents. We want to balance concern for individual finances with the need for the society to continue to survive and provide education and advocacy for pathologists.  We are dependent on member dues for continued existence, especially absent an educational conference, which would normally help increase revenue. We hope that you continue to see value in being a member of the Wisconsin Society of Pathologists. Our board will certainly continue to work to bring high quality educational content to our members, provide a forum for networking, and serve as the advocate for Wisconsin pathologists.