Wisconsin Cancer Reporting System
Registry Operations
Data Collection. The Wisconsin Cancer Reporting System
(WCRS)
collects cancer incidence data on Wisconsin residents newly diagnosed with pre-invasive
and invasive cancers. All cancers are reportable to WCRS except basal and squamous cell
carcinomas of the skin. Reports are received from Wisconsin hospitals, clinics and
physician’s offices. Out-of-state cancer registries provide reports on Wisconsin
residents diagnosed in their states to the Wisconsin registry under data exchange
agreements with WCRS. Registry records are also matched to the Wisconsin resident death
file on a yearly basis to identify cases not reported by the regular reporting process.
For each reported cancer case, WCRS collects timely and important data
such as:
Demographic information - age, sex, race/ethnicity,
county of residence at the time of diagnosis
Tumor characteristics - date of diagnosis, primary
site, cell type, stage of disease, type of diagnostic confirmation
Treatment - cancer-directed treatment including
surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy.
Data Maintenance. Quality control is essential for the
approximately 25,000 newly diagnosed cancer cases reported each year. WCRS checks the
accuracy of incoming data using nationally approved edits from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and additional edits designed by WCRS. Edit-checking is done on a
case-by-case basis. Any inconsistencies or errors are resolved with the reporting
facility. After the data have been edited, they are matched with the WCRS registry data
base. Those records that do not match are added to the system as newly diagnosed cases.
Additional quality control tasks include ongoing monitoring of reporting completeness and
timeliness.
Training. WCRS offers training to Wisconsin-based reporting sources
through on-site visits, phone, mail, webcasts, and regional training sessions. The training is
ongoing and covers timeliness and completeness of reporting as well as data accuracy.
Data Use. On request, WCRS provides aggregate data and analysis to
a variety of requesters such as cancer researchers, hospital cancer registry personnel and
governmental agencies (local, state and federal). The confidentiality of the data is
strictly maintained according to state statute and administrative rule.
Standard publications include Wisconsin Cancer Incidence and
Mortality as well as the Health Counts in Wisconsin, Cancer
series.
Last Revised: July 02, 2009 |
