The Biopsy
When your physician decides to take a biopsy, the tissue will be sent to our laboratory, Ketchum, Wood and Burgert,
Pathology Associates for examination through a microscope by a physician specialist, called a Pathologist, who specializes in
diagnosing disease by tissue examination. After looking at the removed tissue, the Pathologist directs technologists to cut all,
or parts, of the tissue into thinner-than-paper (thousandths of a millimeter) slices that can be colorized, placed between thin pieces
of glass and viewed through a microscope. Throughout this process careful attention is given to maintaining proper identification
of every specimen. A written report of Pathologist’s findings and diagnosis is sent to your physician. Because the language in
these reports is so technical, the medical transcriptionists who type them must be specially trained. Usually this whole process
takes 24 hours. However, if the physician needs the answer sooner, the Pathologist tries to accommodate the request.
Difficult or unusual cases are examined by several, or sometimes all, of our Pathologists. When this happens,
the responsible Pathologist may telephone your physician to explain the problem and discuss the biopsy, keeping him
informed of the delay. Very unusual cases may be sent to a national expert. This will delay the final report for several
weeks and requires special handling to ensure the materials are not lost or damaged. Like the local Pathologist, the
out-of-town expert will write his opinion and send it to our laboratory who forwards it to your physician who will have the
benefit of all the opinions; quite often the expert’s diagnosis is received by telephone or fax before the written
report arrives so that the information will be available sooner.
In any case, you have the benefit of this type of examination which not only aids your physician in selecting the appropriate
therapy or confirming a diagnosis, but also provides a written document
for your record, describing the biopsy for future reference. Pathology Associates maintains copies of these reports which can be
duplicated if needed; we also keep on file the glass slides and associated tissue samples, called blocks. These materials allow for
comparisons if needed later and assure records will be available if the original were to be lost.
You can see that a lot of effort and study goes into deriving the right answer from the biopsy; it requires technologists to
prepare tissue slides and the skills of the Pathologist to make a diagnosis. For these services you will receive a separate bill from
our laboratory, Ketchum, Wood and Burgert, Pathology Associates. The amount of the charge will vary depending upon the kind
and number of biopsies examined. While national experts’ opinions are not free (sometimes costing several hundred dollars),
Pathology Associates considers them absolutely essential to the patient’s treatment and diagnosis in certain unusual cases.
Pathology Associates will pass along that expert’s bill to you or have the expert bill you directly.
Since the laboratory will file insurance for you, please be sure complete insurance information and your current billing
address are provided to your physician.
If you have questions about your bill from Pathology Associates, please feel free to call our billing service at (850) 877-6704.