Monitoring public health reporting: data tracking in cancer registries

Authors

  • Abdulrahman Jabour Department of Health Informatics , Jazan University School of Public health and Tropical Medicine. Jazan, Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1397-582X
  • Brian Dixon Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana. Department of Epidemiology, Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indianapolis, Indiana VA HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication, Roudebush VA. Indianapolis, Indiana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v10i3.9432

Abstract

Introduction: Timeliness of data availability is a key performance measure in cancer reporting. Previous studies evaluated timeliness of cancer reporting using a single metric, yet this metric obscures the details within each step of the reporting process. To enhance understanding of cancer reporting processes, we measured the timeliness of discrete cancer reporting steps and examined changes in timeliness across a decade.

Methods: We analyzed 76,259 cases of breast, colorectal and lung cancer reported to the Indiana State Cancer Registry between 2001 and 2011. We measured timeliness for three fundamental reporting steps: report completion time, report submission time, and report processing time. Timeliness was measured as the difference, in days, between timestamps recorded in the cancer registry at each step. We further examined the reporting pattern among facilities within each step.

Results: Identifying and gathering details about cases (report completion) accounts for the largest proportion of time during the cancer reporting process. Although submission time accounts for a lesser proportion of time, there is wide variation among facilities. One-seventh (7 out of 49) facilities accounted for 28.4% of the total cases reported, all of which took more than 100 days to submit the completed cases to the registry.

Conclusions: Measuring timeliness of the individual steps in reporting processes can enable cancer registry programs to target individual facilities as well as tasks that could be improved to reduce overall case reporting times. Process improvement could strengthen cancer control programs and enable more rapid discovery in cancer research.

Author Biographies

Abdulrahman Jabour, Department of Health Informatics , Jazan University School of Public health and Tropical Medicine. Jazan, Saudi Arabia.

Assistant professor, Head of Health Informatics Department

Faculty Vice Dean for Research and Devolopment,
Faculty of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Jazan University

Brian Dixon, Center for Biomedical Informatics, Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana. Department of Epidemiology, Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indianapolis, Indiana VA HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication, Roudebush VA. Indianapolis, Indiana

Research Scientist, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Indiana University Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, Regenstrief Institute, Inc.

Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public health

Affiliate Scientist, VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Health Information and Communication, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center

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Published

2018-12-30

How to Cite

Jabour, A., & Dixon, B. (2018). Monitoring public health reporting: data tracking in cancer registries. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v10i3.9432

Issue

Section

Original Articles