Synergetic role of integrating the departments of cancer registry and clinical research at an academic comprehensive cancer center.

Abstract

Integration of the cancer registry and clinical research departments can have a significant impact on the accreditation process of a Commission on Cancer (CoC) Program. Here in we demonstrate that the integration of both departments will benefit as there is increased knowledge, manpower and crossover in job responsibilities in our CoC-accredited Academic Comprehensive Cancer Center. In our model this integration has led to a more successful cooperative interaction among departments, which has in turn created an enhanced combined effect on overall output and productivity. More manpower for the cancer registry has led to increased caseloads, decreased time from date of first contact to abstraction, quality of data submissions, and timely follow-up of all patients from our reference date for accurate survival analysis along with completeness of data. In 2016, our Annual Facility report showed an additional 163 cases over prediction by the state of Maryland Cancer Registry and a 39% increase in case completeness. As proof of the synergetic effectiveness of our model within one year of its implementation, the cancer center was able to apply for, and was awarded membership from Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, Central IRB, and in turn led to increased clinical trial accrual from 2.8% in 2014 compared to 13.2% currently. Our cancer registry in year one submitted over 150 more cases than predicted, improved quality outcome measures displayed by our Cancer Program Practice Profile reports and had more timely and complete data submissions to national and state registries. This synergetic integration has led to a better understanding, utilization and analysis of data by an integrated team with Clinical Research expertise.