January 2023 Newsletter

Save the date for our upcoming educational webinar, 2023 Call for Data. The 30 minute webinar, which has been approved for 0.5 credits from NCRA, will be presented by Amy Arnold, BA, CTR, Manager, Strategic Services at ERS on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023 and Thursday, Feb 9, 2023.

The webinar will familiarize the attendee with the 2023 Commission on Cancer Call for Data guidelines, best practices for preparing for the Call for Data, as well as details for exporting from CRStar and utilizing GenEdits. Attendees will walk away with more confidence in their submission for this year's Call for Data.

Invitations will be emailed to CRStar clients on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

For many decades, the association of prolonged stress and cancer has been known. This has been described in civilians who are affected by the prolonged stress of war, such as those living in wartime Britain during the London blitz in 1940-41 and, more recently, the unfortunate people living in Ukraine.

Recent studies have also shown that certain populations may be especially susceptible to prolonged cancer-causing stress. The term to describe and quantify this stress is termed “allostatic load.” Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the National Death Index, these important associations have been noted.

To determine “allostatic load,” the researchers looked at several factors collected in NHANES: BMI, diastolic blood pressure, glycohemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, serum triglyceride, serum albumin, serum creatinine and C-reactive protein. The result showed that Non-Hispanic White adults had a 95% increased risk, non-Hispanic Black adults had a twofold increased risk and Hispanic adults had a 36% increased risk.

While many of the specific factors leading to stress-related cancer are not currently found in our cancer registries, the challenge will be to capture elements to assure that our registries remain a viable research tool as the future relationship of malignancy and stress is analyzed.

Aligning with ERS’s mission, join us as we Celebrate the CTR and help advance cancer registry professionals through education as well as promote their professional development. With this mission in mind, ERS announces an essay contest with the theme “What Being a CTR Means to Me.” Share with us how being a CTR has enhanced you as a cancer registry professional, how the work you do as a CTR has impacted patient care or any other way you wish to share your journey as a CTR.

Designed exclusively for CRStar users who are NCRA members, the winner will receive a paid registration (value $495) for the upcoming 2023 NCRA Educational Conference - either in-person or virtual. The winner will be contacted by March 15th and the winner and winning essay will be showcased in the April edition of the ERS Newsletter as well as posted to Facebook, LinkedIn, and our other social media platforms. The top 5 essays will later be featured on our website and social media during NCRW - April 3-7.

If you have already paid for your NCRA Conference registration, you are still eligible to submit an essay. NCRA has informed us that they will reimburse the winner for their already paid for registration.

Please note: Deadline for submission is midnight, Tuesday, Feb. 28th. No submissions will be accepted after that time.

Complete rules and submission details can be found on our website or by clicking below.

Over the past several years, we have had many engagements with our clients about Automated Data Exchange, discussing the various sources available to integrate with the cancer registry as well as the benefits seen in the registry ... and throughout the entire cancer program.

Sources available include:

• EMR
• Pathology
• Radiation Oncology
• Medical Oncology
• Data Warehouse exports
• Tumor Board solutions
• Patient Navigation solutions
• Precision Medicine solutions

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, physician care team and treatment information? Additionally, these sources have the ability to update follow-up on existing patients, therefore assisting with compliance of CoC standard 6.5.

These integration solutions are currently available from your cancer program’s source systems 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 about 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, Growth and Strategic Services and Todd Carter, Director, Technology and Implementation Services. 

The latest episode of the Cancer Registry World podcast featuring guest Timothy W. Mullet, MD, MBA, FACS, Medical Director of the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky, is now available! Dr. Mullet joins Dr. Frederick L. Greene to discuss the important role for cancer registrars and the benefits of cancer registries.

Previous episodes with guests 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.

As registries close out the 2022 calendar year and begin a new year with many upcoming changes, we wanted to share some tips and best practices for getting your database ready for 2023!

• Review User Logins - The System administrator should review the user login settings and delete old users that may no longer work for the facility. Note: Do not delete any registrar initials.
• Review Password Policies and Settings - Check with the facility’s security officer to see if changes are needed for lockout settings, password requirements and patterns, or if Two Factor Authentication is a requirement.
• Review User Security Settings - Check each user’s security settings to ensure that disabled screens or modules are still applicable for 2023. Also, review each user’s security settings for any needed changes. (Client Admin, User or Read Only)
• Initialize 2023 Accession Numbers - Facilities will need to initialize new accession numbers for 2023 for each facility in the database. Enter the hospital number followed by the year and the next accession number to use. For example, 01202300001. Note: If users have been manually entering 2023 accession numbers, run an Accession Register to find the last number used.
• Data Validation Reports - Run the Data Validation report to review possible duplicate cases. If duplicate cases are found, use the Combine Case feature to merge duplicates.
• Color Coding - Review the color coding schemes to include new fields for 2023 and modify any existing fields.
• Rapid Abstract - If the Rapid Abstract feature is utilized, review for inclusion or exclusion of new and existing fields. 
• Dashboard Settings - Review the dashboard settings for necessary changes to date ranges, facility configuration and user access.
• GenEdit Settings - Ensure new edit metafiles have been set for each user (State, NAACCR, NCDB and RCRS)
• Population and Report Label Cleanup - Review population and report labels in the Select a Population, Ad Hoc List for a Pop and Cross Tab reports and delete labels no longer used
• Import Review - Review any imports used for casefinding and follow-up for any needed changes to codes and filters. Note: The ICD-10-CM SEER Casefinding list effective 10/01/2022-09/30/2023 can be found on the SEER website or by clicking the link below.

Following these tips and best practices each year will aid in maintaining your database. If assistance is needed with any of these items, please submit a support ticket via our Client Portal and a member of our team will be happy to assist!

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.

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