CAP Helps Facilitate Cancer Data Sharing Partnership

Software developed in part by the College of American Pathologists is playing a key role in a unique cancer data partnership in California. St. Joseph Health System, a 14-hospital healthcare system in California, is submitting pathology data directly to the California Cancer Registry (CCR), which will then be used to study cancer trends and patterns among Californians. Ten of St. Joseph's hospitals are participating in the reporting, with more expected to be added shortly, officials said.

The initiative is the first in the United States where a hospital system is collecting and sending structured pathology data directly to a cancer registry. "Every second we save in sharing data gives researchers more time to spend on curing cancer," said Karen Smith, M.D., director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), in a statement.

The CDPH operates the CCR, which has been collecting data on every Californian who has contracted the disease since the late 1980s. It has data on about 3.4 million cases, and collects data on about 162,000 patients a year.

However, reporting and collecting data on cancer cases in close to real time is considered the gold standard for researchers to be able to understand trends in pathology and help develop treatments in response. The CCR had been months to years behind abstracting and analyzing the data they had gathered. CAP received a $300,000 grant from CDPH earlier this year to begin facilitating the exchange of clinical cancer information electronically in California.

The linchpin of the reporting effort is CAP's electronic Forms and Reporting Module, known as eFRM. The reporting software was developed in conjunction with mTuitive, a Massachusetts-based software firm that sought a solution to the CCR's slow process of analyzing the data it had received.

Samantha Spencer, M.D., the director of CAP's structured reporting division, said the organization has outreach to expand this initiative to other states, but nothing was yet definitive. The California program is expected to involve other hospitals, and will run at least until June of next year.

Takeaway: The College of American Pathologists is playing a significant role in the direct reporting and collection of cancer data.