Suggested Guidelines for Selecting a Cancer Registry Contracting Service

Facility:

• The facility should understand the reporting requirements for the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Registry (GCCR) in order to make an informed decision about what services are needed.
• The facility should decide who would oversee the contractor's activities and performance.

Contractor:

• The contractor should be an experienced Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) and produce proof of current credential status.
• The contractor should show proof of attendance at recent continuing education activities including state cancer registry trainings and cancer registry association education meetings.
• The contractor should demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the GCCR reporting requirements as well as Commission on Cancer requirements if contracted to work in an ACoS approved hospital registry or a hospital registry seeking approval.
• The contractor should provide a list of facilities, both previous and current, within the past three years. This list should include a contact name and phone number for each facility.
• The contractor should have a working knowledge of abstracting software programs and computer hardware.

Contract:

• The contract should list each specific activity the contractor is expected to complete and the standards for quality accordingly.
• The contract should include a clause that guarantees the quality of work performed, specifically accuracy and completeness. Before signing a contract, a facility can arrange to have a quality assessment performed by the Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics (GCCS). In a cancer registry setting, the managing registrar should perform regular quality checks of the contractor's work.
• The contract should include a statement that the contractor will meet the monthly deadline for reporting cancer data to GCCR which includes written notification if there are no cancer cases to report in a given month.
• The contract should include a statement that the contractor will make data corrections free of charge as a result of edit error reports received from the Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics or records rejected because they lack supporting English text and/or have missing data elements.

Cancer Abstracting Services:

Below is a list of Georgia and National cancer abstracting services. The Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Registry (GCCR) does not endorse or support any one of the abstracting services listed.