Reportability and the Commission on Cancer

Hospitals continually assess the quality of care that they provide, and one method of evaluating is by comparing the survival of the cancer patients in a given facility with national norms. The Commission on Cancer (CoC) therefore requires each medical facility with a CoC-approved cancer program to monitor the survival of all patients diagnosed and/or receiving their first course of treatment at that facility. The CoC calls these “analytic” cases.

Patients who are seen at a CoC-approved facility only for subsequent treatment or for other conditions are considered “non-analytic” or “reportable by agreement.” Although not included in the hospital evaluations of survival, they must be included in the state incidence figures.

State cancer registries require that all cases diagnosed or treated in the state, regardless of “analytic” or “non-analytic” status, be reported so that accurate cancer incidence figures can be calculated.

Non-analytic cases that meet the following conditions are deemed reportable-by-agreement by the CoC and the LTR:

  • Known or estimated original diagnosis year ≥1988 and after (2004 and after for benign brain and CNS tumors) AND
  • Cases are NOT in the LTR database for that particular primary—
    Hospital registries need to query the LTR database to see if the case has already been abstracted.  Contact LTR-info@lsuhsc.edu for access details. Cases NOT in the LTR’s patient search function must be abstracted using hospital information

Cases with the following Class of Case codes are reportable to the LTR:

30 Initial diagnosis and all first course treatment elsewhere AND reporting facility participated in DIAGNOSTIC WORKUP (for example, consult only, staging workup after initial diagnosis elsewhere)
31 Initial diagnosis and all first course treatment elsewhere AND reporting facility provided IN-TRANSIT care (for example, stent placement)
32 Diagnosis AND all first course treatment provided elsewhere AND patient presents at reporting facility with disease RECURRENCE OR PERSISTENCE
33 Diagnosis AND all first course treatment provided elsewhere AND patient presents at reporting facility with disease HISTORY ONLY
34 Type of case not required by CoC to be accessioned—includes CIN III, VIN III, VAIN III and AIN III cases AND initial diagnosis AND part or all of first course treatment by reporting facility
35 Case diagnosed before program’s Reference Date AND initial diagnosis AND PART OR ALL of first course treatment by reporting facility
36 Type of case not required by CoC to be accessioned—includes CIN III, VIN III, VAIN III and AIN III cases AND initial diagnosis elsewhere AND part of all of first course treatment by reporting facility
37 Case diagnosed before program’s Reference Date AND initial diagnosis elsewhere AND all or part of first course treatment by reporting facility
38 Initial diagnosis established by AUTOPSY at the reporting facility, cancer not suspected prior to death