Certified Sr Cancer Registrar, First

Job Description

The Senior Certified Cancer Registrar/CTR is a data information specialist involved in managing and analyzing clinical cancer information for the purpose of education, research, and outcome measurement. The Senior Cancer Registrar will lead processes to ensure timely, accurate, and complete cancer data collection on all types of cancer diagnosed and/or treated within the hospital, while adhering to the standards of the American College of Surgeons (ACOS), Commission on Cancer. The Senior CTR will serve as the subject matter expert for the Tumor/Cancer Registry related accreditation work for site-specific accreditations. (ex. NAPBC, NAPRC)

Responsibilities

  1. Job Function: Abstraction - 40%
    • Responsible for identification, accessioning, data retrieval, data comprehension and data integration in the full spectrum of all disease sites of cancer
    • Performs concurrent and retrospective reviews of patient medical records for appropriateness, protocol compliance, variances and other review activities related to tumor registry abstraction and submission requirements.
    • Utilizes data manuals of defined outcome measurements, terms, and calculations and monitors for changes in data requirements.
    • Maintains data abstraction accuracy within 95-100 % accuracy in accordance with federal/ state regulations, ACoS CoC program standards, institutional and departmental policies and procedures.
    • Understands clinical pathways to determine what types of treatment should be expected based on site, extent, type of cancer and associated NCCN guidelines.
    • Reviews data for completeness and accuracy. Pursues missing data necessary for abstract completion by contacting outside physician offices, hospitals and cancer registries.
    • Establishes and produces quarterly, monthly, and other scheduled reports in a timely manner; Accommodate information requests from other Cancer Registries in a timely manner. Log all requests into the registry log per ACOS Standards.
    • Assist with preparation of data submissions to the National Cancer Data Base, monthly internal quality reviews, and state audits.
    • Ability to communicate effectively with physicians, oncology nurses, patients as well as medical records / tumor registry personnel.
    • Assists to solve complex abstracting and coding problems and acts as a resource for Cancer Registrar I.
    • The Senior Certified Cancer Registrar will create an abstract of patient disease from diagnosis, and to assist with lifetime follow-up, and to disseminate this data in accordance with professional ethics.
    • Reports progress of data abstraction efforts routinely to QA Specialist and assists to ensure reporting deadlines are met.
    • Possesses advanced critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving skills.
  2. Job Function: Performance Improvement/Quality & Safety - 15%
  • Lead as a Subject Matter Expert(SME) for the Cancer registry data requirements to satisfy related accreditation standards for site-specific accreditations and. (ex. NAPBC, NAPRC). Regular collaboration with site and physician leadership to establish schedules and projects to meet standards.
  • Coordinates and provide support for Cancer Conference/Tumor Boards noting attendance, stage, treatment planning discussion, and attendance. Attend Cancer Performance Improvement Committee meetings.
  • Accountable for improving patient care through adherence to all patient's safety and quality standards, regulations, and best practices.
  • Analyze and evaluates data and clinical information to identify performance and quality issues and trends, inform community needs assessments, prevention, and surveillance activities
  • Prepares statistical data for reports and graphic presentations for cancer-related committees, national studies, research, and in response to medical staff requests.
  • In partnership with Cancer Registrars, providers, and clinicians, monitors the use of clinical protocols, standards of care, practice guidelines, and policies/procedures related to the Cancer/Tumor Registry.
  • Interacts with the clinical staff and interdisciplinary teams to obtain and provide registry data and information for Cancer Center and system Quality, Performance Improvement, and Domain committee objectives and projects.
  • Facilitates understanding of cancer registry documentation requirements to clinical teams, which may include face-to-face communications, phone communications, and discussion with physicians and clinical staff to include educational presentations as needed.
  1. Job Function: Leadership - 15%
    • Serves as a mentor and trainer to Cancer Registrar Assistant, Cancer Registrar I and II employees, and health information management programs' visiting students.
    • Act as a resource for members of the Tumor Registry team.
    • Participate and assist with departmental education.
    • Practice and support departmental/hospital policies, procedures, and standards.
    • Monitor emails, phone messages and responds in a timely manner.
    • Lead in the development of processes and systems to measure/monitor practice.
  2. Job Function: Informatics, Information Security, and Technology- 15%
    • Digests complex clinical information to determine if data entered in the Cancer Registry software is accurate, complete and valid.
    • Understands informatics concepts and can identify data gathering techniques within the EMR to improve and enhance registry data capture
    • Represent the Cancer Registry for complex tumor data informatics projects, and subject matter expert for EPIC related projects such as Synoptic reporting requirements and evolving data requirements for cancer reporting.
    • Assists leaders to deploy documentation optimization initiatives related to registry requirements and assists in assessing and evaluating documentation workflows for physician and nursing teams as they relate to registry.
    • Competent using Epic and computer related registry applications
    • Intermediate to advanced computer skills to be proficient in Microsoft Office applications; proficiency in data presentations
    • Participates and maintains a data integrity auditing and Inter-rater reliability process
  1. Job Function: Professional Development-10%
    • Stays current with knowledge of industry trends to understand key clinical and healthcare registry related issues i.e., workshops, webinars, literature, etc. Applies pertinent new knowledge to performance of responsibilities.
    • Participate in educational opportunities annually related to cancer for allied health professionals, at local, state, and/or national level per ACOS standards, to stay informed on standard and staging changes and updates.
    • Complete 20 hours of continuing education hours bi-annually as required by the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) and consistently maintain CTR credential.
  2. Job Function: Other duties as assigned - 5%


Qualifications

Associates Degree Required. College level Anatomy and Physiology and Medical Terminology required. Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) required. Minimum of five years of experience in case abstraction in a hospital-based tumor registry.
  • Subject Matter Expertise regarding the relationship of Cancer Registry data requirements to satisfy AcoS- Commission on Cancer standards in NAPBC, CoC, and NAPRC Accreditations
  • Consistent knowledge of changes in data requirements for Tumor Registry
  • Complete 20 hours of continuing education hours bi-annually as required by the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA).
  • Consistently meet or exceed abstraction productivity and data accuracy quality standards of the department and regulatory
  • Technical qualifications including knowledge of the disease process, diagnostic methods and procedures, composition of the health record, data interpretation, and statistical and analytical skills.
  • Ability to effectively communicate with attending physicians and clinical teams regarding documentation needs. Effective written and verbal communications. Ability to interpret medical data, pharmacology, clinical procedures, terminology as documented in the care of the cancer population
  • Aptitude for detail-oriented work with a high level of accuracy
  • Responsible for data retrieval, data comprehension and data integration in the full spectrum of all disease sites of cancer (Diagnosis; Clinical and Pathological Staging; SEER Summary Staging and First Course Treatment Coding and classification).
  • Proficient in the use of the following standardized coding and classification sets: International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (ICD-O), Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) Multiple Primary and Histology rule set, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Neoplasm Coding Manual and Database, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) RX - Interactive Drug Database, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM direct staging of all cancer sites, Standards for Oncology Registry Entry (STORE).
  • Ability to work independently in a time-oriented environment; Maintain high levels of personal accountability in deadline management; Requires ability to work autonomously, within a complex and quickly changing environment
  • Strong computer skills with ability to easily navigate Epic Electronic Medical Record and registry vendor tools and platforms, to accurately enter/retrieve data, generate reports, and provide routine updates and visual presentations of reports using Microsoft Office tools, including Teams platform for meetings. Ability to utilize appropriate software to obtain data in usable format and develop appropriate material to report findings.
  • This individual must maintain professional confidentiality as privileged information will be retrieved, studied, and recorded. This individual is responsible for knowledge of specific data requirements as defined by the association that defines registry requirements. As the registry subject matter expert, this individual will remain current on all metrics and abstraction/documentation.