Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care fully transitioned to digital pathology services July 1.
The system’s central core laboratory and 12 hospital-based laboratories now scan glass pathology slides to create high-resolution digital images. Those images are then integrated into patient EHRs and can be accessed remotely by pathologists, streamlining diagnostics and accelerating care, according to a July 16 news release from the health system.
“Faster diagnoses and reduced turnaround time means earlier treatment decisions, faster peace of mind for patients and ultimately greater outcomes,” Ali Gabali, MD, chief medical director of pathology and laboratory and medical director of the McLaren Corporate Laboratory, said in the release.
Dr. Gabali shared more about the undertaking with Becker’s, including how McClaren built a team culture that embraces change.
Question: What were the biggest operational or cultural hurdles you encountered during this transition?
Dr. Ali Gabali: McLaren Health Care’s launch of digital pathology is the culmination of clear leadership vision, years of strategic planning, workflow redesign, cultural change and a strong strategic partnership with Roche. An advancement this complex and transformative meant building the program from the ground up, beginning with recruiting a team of leaders and clinical specialists who understood the future of pathology and shared McLaren’s vision and eagerness to make it a reality. Essentially, we built a team culture specifically for embracing and effectuating change.
Operationally, McLaren’s ambitious and extraordinary deployment timeline for digital pathology went through a massive chemistry validation and implementation process, requiring months of effort from widely distributed teams working round the clock. Roche played a critical role in these efforts, working side by side with McLaren’s clinical and operational teams to fully integrate its hardware and software platforms and coordinate go-live support, which helped minimize obstacles and reinforce confidence.
Q: What is your vision for integrating AI-assisted diagnosis and remote consultation?
AG: McLaren’s program transforms pathology into a more accurate, efficient and collaborative system centered on patients and clinicians. Telepathology, or remote consultation, is a core component of this system, ensuring cases are directed to and reviewed by the most appropriate and specialized clinicians at great speed. A single case can be reviewed, escalated and acted upon collaboratively in minutes, accelerating decisions and deepening diagnostic confidence.
Artificial intelligence is used as an assistive layer, supporting pathologists through tasks like quantification, pattern detection and differential diagnosis. AI tools are integrated into workflows with clear roles and limitations, fostering an environment where technology supports human insight, not substitutes it. Final clinical decisions always remain in human hands.
Q: How does digitized pathology data reshape collaboration between hospitals, specialists and even external partners within your integrated network?
AG: The transition to digital pathology has profoundly reshaped collaboration across McLaren’s 12-hospital network. In the past, consultations across facilities required courier services and days of transportation time. Now, pathologists access full-resolution digital slides instantly, enabling real-time review, annotation and multidisciplinary discussion from any location. Daily consensus conferences bring teams together virtually and tumor boards are able to review more cases than ever before.
Externally, McLaren is now better positioned to partner with academic institutions, national reference labs and international collaborators. Geographic barriers have been effectively removed, creating new opportunities for second opinions, joint research and enriched training for early career clinicians. Digital access also supports McLaren’s subspecialty model, routing cases to the most qualified pathologist regardless of location.
McLaren Health Care has built a fully realized digital pathology program, transforming McLaren’s speed, accuracy and ability to detect and predict diseases across the 12-hospital, fully integrated health system.
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