|
With over 1100 cases accessioned annually, Baton Rouge General’s
three cancer registrars have a full workload. Thankfully, the
Pennington Cancer Center is outfitted with integrated IMPAC
products that help interrelated workflows run more smoothly and
efficiently so registrars can focus on quality abstracting and
analysis.
No wonder Linda Lee, CTR, Manager of Cancer Data Services, finds
IMPAC Cancer Registry System to be an excellent solution to her
registry’s follow-up challenges.
IMPAC
Automation Provides SSDI Database Updates and Standard Templates
for Easier Patient Follow-up
A
significant part of the cancer registry abstracting workload is
to follow patients’ responses to treatment. Registrars typically
determine patient status at yearly intervals and regularly
communicate with physicians to validate current disease status
and any treatment updates.
When
registrars proactively contact patients and physicians, it can
be time-consuming to learn that some of the patients are in fact
already listed in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), which
documents deceased patients and follow-up is no longer
necessary.
IMPAC
Cancer Registry System, however, helps registrars identify such
patient names before investing time in doing their own similar
research. IMPAC’s SSDI feature provides cancer registries with
updated SSDI information from within the abstract. That
functionality allows registrars to check the SSDI updates upon
entry of new or follow-up abstracts to confirm which patients no
longer require further contact.
When
registrars require further contact, “IMPAC Cancer Registry
system generates customizable follow-up letters and all we have
to do is mail them, which is easy and efficient,” explains
Lee.
They create multiple letters to address a wide array of
situations and can even create letters for individual physician
preference.
Lee
goes on to say, “IMPAC also speeds communication with our
physicians. When we need information about first course of
treatment or other treatments that patients received, my staff
will send the physicians a customized letter from IMPAC Cancer
Registry System. ACoS has made this issue very important to
registrars in the past two years, with the CP3R and e-QuIP
studies.” In fact, Lee and her staff currently enjoy a 90 – 94%
follow-up rate.
Value-added
Results Bring Efficiency and Retain ACoS Accreditation
As
the first local cancer program to receive ACoS accreditation in
1989, Pennington Cancer Center proudly maintains accreditation
each year, demonstrating continuous improvements and a
commitment to quality cancer care.
The
efficiency and easy case transmittal offered by IMPAC Cancer
Registry System empower Lee and her team to contribute to the
measures necessary for continued accreditation. “I believe that
IMPAC Cancer Registry System allows you to abstract much faster
and to do more abstracts daily. And producing a report that
would have taken hours, now only takes a minute.” Lee adds that,
“IMPAC Cancer Registry System was in place when I arrived at
this facility. They asked if I would like to change the
software, but honestly I have not seen a better product. If
anything, I hope to add IMPAC’s MOSAIQ™ Connect to our
configuration. I have worked at many facilities while performing
contract abstracting, and IMPAC Cancer Registry System, in my
opinion, is by far the most user-friendly on the market.”
|
Challenge:
