Chats December 2021

Chats

December 21, 2021

December 2021

Vol 10 Issue 3

From the Editor

I can't believe it's now almost the end of another year. Where has 2021 gone? I'm reminded of that comment, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!" Sometimes we all need to pause a moment, take stock of all the good surrounding us and what we do have, and be thankful we are here to enjoy all of it, if we allow ourselves to do just that. Our schedule is always busy with work, family and friends, and all the other things we manage to fit into it. So my holiday wish for each of you is to take a breath of fresh air, pause, relax, and enjoy. Maybe you can find a little time these next two weeks before the New Year begins. If not now, when?

We have several articles that I hope inspire you to continue the important work you do. First, in Data Quality Corner, Winny Roshala, Director, Quality Control and Reporting Facility Compliance Officer, provides a glimpse into the Data Quality Profiles that SEER uses to evaluate our data and our results from our November submission.

Next, Scott Riddle, Business Analyst describes the calculations that go into determining timeliness of your data submissions and provides a tip on how to help your submission be timely. While this article originally appeared in CHATS in 2003, we wanted to update and share this information specifically for our newer members of our registry community who may have not seen that original article.

Then Rosemary Cress, Research Director and Anshu Shrestha, Research Scientist III, share an update on CRGC's Research Unit specifically highlighting the ongoing and newly developed collaboration with researchers at NCI Designated Cancer Centers. You'll find several interesting projects in which the cancer data we all collect is being used.

We hope you find these articles interesting and informative. We appreciate the efforts of each of you in providing accurate, complete and timely cancer data. Thank you!

Stay healthy and safe!

Mignon

Data Quality Corner

CRGC SEER 2021 November Data Submission of 2019 Cases

Winny Roshala, BA, CTR, CRGC Director of Quality Control and Reporting Facility Compliance Officer

The Cancer Registry of Greater California (CRGC) successfully submitted the 2019 data submission file to the National Cancer Institute’s SEER Program by the November 1, 2021 deadline! If you are wondering what data elements and criteria SEER uses to evaluate data, here is a summary of the SEER Data Quality Profile Indicators and SEER Goal Measures, as well as the final CRGC result for each indicator:

To continue this article click here

Beating the Clock on Timeliness

Scott Riddle, BS, CRGC Business Analyst III

(Originally published in 2003 and still relevant)

Updated December 2021

As a member of the original task force, I was asked to come up with the formula for calculating the number of months. We chose what we considered was the most lenient formula.

The formula is relatively simple: Take the date the case was received by the Registry (within a file) and subtract the number of months from the Date First Contact (formerly known as the Date First Admission). The number of months is calculated regardless of the day of the month. Refer to Figure 1 for examples.

To continue this article click here

CRGC's Research Unit Update

Rosemary Cress, DrPH, Research Director, CRGC

Anshu Shrestha, MPH, PhD, Research Scientist, III, CRGC

One of the areas on which NCI SEER evaluates our contract performance is documentation of a relationship with an NCI Designated Cancer Center in our catchment area. This relationship can include a joint appointment in both the registry and the cancer center and collaborative research projects.

CRGC’s primary relationship is with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCDCCC) in Sacramento where Dr. Rosemary Cress is a member of the Population Sciences and Health Disparities Program, but we are looking to expand research with other NCI cancer centers in our catchment area.

The past six months have been highly productive with regards to initiating new collaborative research projects. Members of the CRGC Research Unit have been working with Dr. David Benjamin of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UC Irvine to use registry data to evaluate treatment for prostate cancer. An abstract describing disparities in hormonal treatment for metastatic prostate cancer was accepted by the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Further analysis is currently underway to describe which patients received standard of care. Findings from this analysis will be presented at the ASCO Symposium in February.

We also are working with a group of cancer epidemiologists as well as the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at the UCDCCC to use CRGC data to identify geographic areas in the catchment area with high incidence of late-stage breast cancer that can be targeted for intervention.

Over the past two months we have been meeting with physicians and epidemiologists at the UC Davis Cancer Center to develop a project to explore increased cancer risk among women with endometriosis. This project will likely utilize CCR data linked with hospital discharge data to identify women treated for endometriosis and assess their risk of cancer occurrence. Results of these studies will be described in future editions of CHATS.

If you have questions or concerns regarding any of the content of this CRGC communication please contact me.

Mignon Dryden, CTR

Director, E-Reporting

Cancer Registry of Greater California