Dr. Michael Legg is a Consultant Health Informatician and Principal of Michael Legg & Associates, consultants in information and organisational systems. He has been CEO of small, medium and large, for-profit and not-for-profit health care organisations and a member of more than 20 Boards or Committees.
He is a Conjoint Associate Professor in Medical Sciences at UNSW and Visiting Fellow at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. He is a Board Member of NSW Health Pathology; the Informatics Committee Chair & Co-Principal Examiner in Pathology Informatics with the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia; an Academic Board Member of the European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine; and Governing Board Member and Technical Standards Co-Chair, Association for Pathology Informatics
He has been President of the Health Informatics Society of Australia, Vice President of Pathology Australia, a member of the Commonwealth’s Quality Use of Pathology Committee (QUPC), the Pathology Services Table Committee (PSTC), the National Health Information Standards Advisory Committee and is currently a Member of the Pathology Associations Council.
Title: “Why Advances In Biology and Informatics Should Bring Pathology and Radiology Together Into A Combined Diagnostics Discipline.”
Abstract
The recent US Institute of Medicine report improving diagnosis in healthcare draws attention to the underappreciated extent of diagnostic error. Although the data is sparse they believe best estimates indicate that all of us will likely experience a meaningful diagnostic error in our lifetime.
The report goes on to highlight the increasingly important role of radiologists and pathologists as integral members of the diagnostic team.
Poor diagnosis is doing harm and I believe this would be faster improved on by combining pathology and radiology. Indeed advances in biology and informatics are driving the diagnostic disciplines to the same place.
Patient satisfaction and wellness is likely to be improved by this convergence and merger. There are also good political and business reasons for providers and suppliers to integrate diagnostics.
The merger of pathology and radiology seems inevitable and would be better managed.