Remote Auditing of Reporting Facilities by the Central Registry: Challenging but Rewarding

Discuss the experience of the New Jersey State Cancer Registry's (NJSCR's) transition to remote auditing of reporting facilities.

We conducted remote audits from 2016-2019 for reporting years 2014-2017. Facilities were selected for audit if they (1) were <90% complete for the year; (2) had ≥10 electronic pathology records (HL7) without a corresponding hospital abstract; or (3) had not been audited in the past 5 years. HL7 records and disease index data were used to determine which cases were potentially unreported. Disease index data were linked to data from the NJSCR Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Data Management System (SEER*DMS) via Match*Pro software. We describe the number of facilities audited and the number of unreported cases identified as a result of the audit process by reporting year and audit type. We also calculate the percent increase in cases reported by reporting year and describe salient challenges in the process.

During 4 years of data collection for the reporting years 2014-2017, 101 audits were completed and 10,546 cases were identified as unreported, representing a 7.1% increase in the number of reportable cases among those facilities audited. Challenges for the central registry involved organizing and reviewing large volumes of electronic data and Excel worksheets, and communications with facilities in the process of changing affiliations, personnel, or encryption policies.

The new process has improved the audit experience for central registry staff and increased the capture of cases being reported to NJSCR. Facilities also made improvements to casefinding, reporting, and communications to the NJSCR.