June 2023 Newsletter

New CRStar Reports

We'd love your feedback

As you know, ERS's approach is to continually look for ways to improve the CRStar experience and resulting value to our clients. Our support and development team hopes that you are enjoying using the new reports that we have released over the past few months. These include:


  • New and enhanced Select a Population with added shortcuts now available on each report screen
  • New Site Distribution with added variables for comparison
  • New and enhanced Treatment Distribution with added reports for Treatment by Facility and Treatment by Provider
  • Enhanced Survival Comparisons
  • Enhanced List for a Population
  • New and enhanced Graph for a Population with the ability to create multiple graphs at once
  • Combined Accession Register/Master Patient Index with new features
  • Data Exports (State, RCRS and NCDB)


Throughout the coming months, the development team will release additional new and enhanced reports. We are really excited about the new options that will add value to our already exceptional reporting system augmenting the areas of productivity, registry management, treatment, staging, data comparisons and accreditations.


As with the previously released reports, users will be alerted via our Enhancement and Correction documentation, CRStar Insights and Short-Take videos, all of which are posted on the CRStar Resource Page.


Additionally, once all reports are released, we will schedule a webinar to review the functionality of the new reports. 


If you haven’t yet used the new reports, please check them out. As always, your feedback is invaluable to us, so please reach out and let us know what you think!

Tell us what you think

Clinical Corner

Frederick L. Greene, MD FACS, CMO

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As I write this “Clinical Corner” one day prior to the 79th anniversary of D-Day, it is appropriate to remember not only the ultimate sacrifices of our military personnel in all prior conflicts, but to highlight also the cancer-related associations reported in those who have served. One such recent report underscores some of these associations.


New data released by the US Department of Defense show that the incidence of many types of cancer is higher among military pilots and aviation support personnel in comparison with the general population. Military aircrew and ground crew were overall more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, but less likely to die from cancer compared to the US population.


The study involved 156,050 aircrew and 737,891 ground crew. Participants were followed between 1992 and 2017. Both groups were predominantly male and non-Hispanic. Data on cancer incidence and mortality for these two groups were compared with data from groups of similar age in the general population through use of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database of the National Cancer Institute.


For aircrew, the study found an 87% higher rate of melanoma, a 39% higher rate of thyroid cancer, a 16% higher rate of prostate cancer, and a 24% higher rate of cancer for all sites combined. In contrast to the increase in cancer incidence, the report found a decrease in cancer mortality.


This information, gleaned from cancer registries, will lead to important prevention and screening strategies in this important at risk population.

Read more of Dr. Greene's Clinical Corner articles

Make ERS part of your Fall Conference

Is your state looking for speakers for it's fall conference? State cancer registry associations are in the planning stages of fall educational conferences and we would love to help! 


Let our team, which includes Dr. Frederick L. Greene, CMO, Melanie Rogan, CTR, Director, Growth & Strategic Services and Amy Arnold, CTR, Manager, Strategic Services, bring their decades of registry expertise, knowledge and experience to your team as speakers on various topics.


Topics include Work Smarter Not Harder, Data Quality: 5 Ws and an H, Marketing the Cancer Registry, Navigating the Future of Your Cancer Program: A Partnership Between Your Navigation Program and the Cancer Registry, and Automated Data Exchange: Approaches to Revitalize your Cancer Registry. And new topics are being developed all the time!


Our speakers can present virtually or in person at your conference, meeting, educational session and more! Click the link below to learn more about the ERS Speakers Bureau.

Learn more about the ERS Speakers Bureau

Listen to the latest episode of Cancer Registry World

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The latest episode of the Cancer Registry World podcast is available now! Guest Kay Washington, MD PhD, Vanderbilt Unviersity School of Medicine and AJCC Editorial Committe Chair, joins Dr. Frederick L. Greene to discuss the importance of cancer registry data for the pathology community.


As Chair of the American Joint Committee on Cancer Editorial Committee, Dr. Washington also describes the significance of registry data in the development of TNM cancer staging strategies and especially the ongoing work to develop the 9th Version of the AJCC Cancer Staging System.

 

Previous episodes with guests Lori A. Swain, Loria A. Pollack, Shirley Dalrymple, Robert K. Brookland, Timothy W. Mullett, Catherine Bieker, Jon Patrick, Barbara Dearmon, Lejla Hadzikadic-Gusic, William Laffey, Rohit Nayak, Mellisa Wheeler, Lillie D. Shockney, and Karen Mason, are still available on our website or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, including ApplePodcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.

Listen to Cancer Registry World now

CRStar's State Reporting Only Version

While there are many benefits of maintaining a Commission on Cancer (CoC) accreditation, there are also several challenges that hospitals face. Many hospitals are under budget restrictions and find it hard to justify the cost of maintaining their accreditation, as well as obtain the necessary reimbursements for non-revenue producing services. Meeting the strict accreditation standards can also be very stressful for many hospitals with limited resources.


In some instances, facilities that choose to drop the CoC accreditation and implement state reporting only turn to the CDC’s Abstract Plus Solution, a free download from the CDC website. While the Abstract Plus solution can meet the basic requirements of state reporting, it does have some limitations.


With this in mind, ERS has developed a State Reporting Only version of CRStar that features many benefits and distinct advantages over the alternative. One of the greatest benefits by far is the ability to retain historical data. When switching from a commercial vendor to Abstract Plus, historical data cannot be converted. With CRStar’s State Reporting Only solution there is no loss of data. This is especially important if a registry makes a decision later to go to a full version or seek accreditation at a later time. Additionally, users still have access to CRStar's best-in-class reporting module as well as our industry leading support and educational services.

If you or a colleague are struggling with a free state-only program, or are having to consider a transition to a free state-only program, know that an alternative and viable solution is to start with ERS’ state reporting module – and use it as a stepping stone to advance to our robust full cancer registry version when ready. This limited version helps to manage startup costs while still maintaining information and functionality critical to the cancer program. If you would like to learn more, click the link below to schedule a call.

Meet with Melanie Rogan

Refer CRStar - Earn $200

Do you love CRStar?


So do we and we are offering our loyal customers the chance to earn a $200 gift card when a Cancer Program that you refer becomes an ERS customer!


Please click "Refer CRStar" below if you know of any Cancer Programs that could benefit from CRStar and the advantages that CRStar users enjoy and rely on.


Let's grow our CRStar community together!


Terms and conditions can be found on the CRStar Referral Form.

Refer CRStar

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