February 2021
In this newsletter, you will find:
  • CRStar's V21 Upgrade Released!
  • We've Made Changes to Our Website!
  • February Tip of the Month - Data Validation Reports
  • Coming Soon - Cancer Center Leadership Webinar
  • Maximize Efficiency of Abstracting & Increase Productivity
  • Kudos to Yolanda Topin!
  • February Employee Spotlight - Lisa Neaves
CRStar's V21 Upgrade Released!
As most of you are aware, CRStar has been upgraded to V21 standards. Detailed documentation was sent to all CRStar clients, as well as posted on the CRStar Resource Page.

Additionally, you should have received an invitation for Reboot - New Year, New Fields, New Rules, an educational webinar that discusses all the new 2021 changes. The webinar will be presented live at noon ET on Tuesday, Feb. 9th and Thursday, Feb. 11th by Christi Cox, CTR, Manager of Education for ERS. Please register and reserve your spot for this information packed webinar! The webinar was awarded one CE hour from NCRA, which meets the Category A requirement.

We hope this timely deployment of the upgrade will help users get a jump start on new cases and keeps you in compliance with RCRS submissions!
Future Webinar Suggestions

What topics interest you for future webinars? If you have suggestions, please contact Christi Cox, Manager of Education at [email protected] with your wish list!
We've Made Changes to Our Website!
Come see the changes we've made to our website's home page!

Look for announcements and notifications on our new scrolling banner, as well as information about ERS and CRStar. In addition, we've moved both the CRStar and the Support login buttons to the top right of the browser window. Look for them there!

Click the link below and take a look around!
February Tip of the Month - Data Validation Reports
February’s Tip of the Month will focus on a very helpful report called Data Validation. This report can be accessed under the System Administration module. The report will identify possible duplicate cases in the database and generate a report for review. The report can be set up to either look for duplicate names and dates of birth or social security numbers.

Duplicate cases are created in a database for several reasons. Let’s look at a couple of examples. The same patient may be entered with the exact same name and DOB, but with one number off in the SSN. Or a patient could be entered with the same DOB and one last name entered as Smith Jr. and the Suffix left blank, while the other patient is entered with the last name Smith and the Jr. correctly entered in the Suffix field. The software flags these as "possible" duplicates.

After a review of the duplicate case list and if a patient has been determined to be a true duplicate case, the user may use the Combine Case feature to merge the two cases together and delete the duplicate. This saves valuable time versus a manual cleanup. It is very important for the user to evaluate which is the correct case to keep and the one to delete, as well as to confirm the cases are the same patient.

The CRStar support staff recommends that users run the Data Validation report once a month to check for possible duplicates. Set a schedule around your monthly state submission. A regular check will help keep the data clean and the integrity of the data validated. In addition, these data validation checks will make data analysis and statistics much more accurate.

For assistance or questions concerning this feature, refer to the CRStar User Manual or enter a support ticket and a member of our support team will be happy to assist!
Coming Soon - Cancer Center Leadership Webinar
As a leader in Cancer Program Management and Analytics, over the past year ERS has been conducting a series of webinars for cancer center leaders focusing on the importance of cancer registry data and how it can be leveraged in key areas to benefit cancer center management.

Some of these focus areas have included data usage for administration and finance, quality, research and outcomes and accreditations.

Our upcoming webinar, titled Using Cancer Data to Market your Cancer Program and Raise Community Awareness will provide a high-level overview for cancer center leaders on utilizing cancer registry data to market and promote cancer center initiatives and to identify disparities and healthcare needs of the community.

This webinar will be presented on Tuesday, March 9th and Thursday, March 11th at 12pm ET. If you think your cancer center leader could benefit from seeing how the data you work with each day can be leveraged to promote cancer center initiatives and community healthcare needs, please click below:
Maximize Efficiency of Abstracting
& Increase Productivity
Over the last several months, we have had a lot of engagements with our clients about Automated Data Exchange, discussing the various sources available to integrate with the cancer registry and the benefits seen in the registry and throughout the entire cancer program.

Automating these processes and integrating with any of these sources can help the cancer registry increase productivity, timeliness and efficiency in data collection and help navigate towards concurrent reporting and research initiatives.

Registry teams spend on average 15% of their time on casefinding. After determining reportability, the registrar spends an additional average of 1.5 to 2 hours per abstract. What if your registry had a more efficient way of integrating additional required data elements into the abstract such as diagnostic, staging, and physician care team and treatment information?

This integration solution is currently available from Epic’s Beacon Medical Oncology module into the CRStar solution! The return on investment is quickly realized. In addition to the cancer registry, the entire cancer program will benefit from this timely and accurate data integration.

Would you like to learn more on how your registry can achieve efficiency and free up valuable time for other important initiatives? Click on the Let’s Talk button and schedule a call with Melanie Rogan, CTR, Director of Registry Services and Todd Carter, Manager, Technology and Implementation Services. 
Kudos to Yolanda Topin!
I wanted to let you know what a wonderful support person you have with Yolanda. She is remarkably smart, patient and easy to work with. We have a program here at Unity Health called "Honoring You" where we honor employees for going above and beyond. I don’t know if you have a program like that, but if you did, I would submit Yolanda’s name!
 
All of your employees are wonderful. I had a scary day last week and Yolanda made it wonderful again. Just wanted to share!
 
Great job Yolanda!
 
Rhonada C. Weber, CTR
UnityPoint Health - St. Luke’s Hospital
Cedar Rapids, IA
February Employee Spotlight - Lisa Neaves
This month our employee spotlight shines on Lisa Neaves, Manager of Contracts & Administration. Lisa joined the ERS team in 2000. Over the years, as the company grew, so did Lisa’s responsibilities. Currently, Lisa assists with legal documentation and negotiations, handling human resources and many financial aspects of the company. 
 
Lisa attended the University of Cincinnati and prior to joining ERS, taught preschool for almost 10 years. She enjoys collaborating with her co-workers in an effort to assist ERS clients with their needs as well as create efficiency through processes and procedures. Lisa cites her favorite thing about working for ERS is knowing the importance that cancer data collection plays in finding effective methods in patient care and cancer control.  
 
Lisa lives in Cincinnati with her teenage daughter, Amanda, her mother, Carol, and their beloved miniature golden doodle, Fozzy, who is the family's daily comic relief. Before the pandemic, Lisa's favorite recreational activity was traveling to different places to experience new adventures. She especially loves to snorkel in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. One of her most memorable trips was to Hawaii. The snorkeling excursion there was a night trip on the Kona coast with manta rays. Her other interests include attending her daughter's swim meets, going to concerts, bowling and baking homemade treats to share with her family and friends.
Refer CRStar - Earn $200
A few months ago, ERS implemented a customer referral program. To date, several loyal CRStar users have earned a $200 gift card. You could be next!

Please click "Refer CRStar" below if you know of any Cancer Programs that could benefit from CRStar and the TLC all CRStar users enjoy and rely on. Should your referral become a CRStar user, you'll earn a $200 Gift Card.

Let's grow our CRStar community together!

Terms and conditions can be found on the CRStar Referral Form.
View a CRStar video
Electronic Registry Systems, Inc. | 1.800.824.9020 | www.mycrstar.com