SCHS: CCR: Physician Practice

Physician practice reporting is a program implemented in 2007 by the NC Central Cancer Registry (CCR) to improve the quality and completeness of CCR cancer data. The intent of this page is to inform independent physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers and free-standing cancer treatment centers on the requirement to report incidences of cancer for their patients.

Cancer is a reportable disease in North Carolina. The CCR was established in 1945 to support cancer prevention programs, clinicians, epidemiologists, policy makers and the public in understanding the impact of cancer among North Carolinians. Since 1990, the law that established the registry requires that all health care facilities and health care providers that detect, diagnose, treat or manage patients with cancer, benign central nervous systems tumors and other reportable conditions to report to the CCR within six months of diagnosis.

Traditional data collection for the CCR has been primarily from hospitals. As medical advances have occurred, diagnosis and treatment of certain cancers has moved from the acute care setting to being fully cared for within the physician practice/clinic and therefore never received and counted. Examples include melanoma of the skin; prostate cancer; early colon cancers; and hematopoietic malignancies like leukemia, polycythemia vera and myelodysplastic syndrome. It is important that the CCR receive data from physician practices to avoid the under-reporting of these cancers. Physician practice reporting ensures complete, timely and accurate capture of cancer incidence data for use in cancer control and prevention activities.

Have you ever wondered, "How do we know what causes cancer?" or "Who is most likely to get cancer and why?" Learn what a cancer registry is and how they help answer these important questions by using the data reported by health care providers, such as yourself.

• What is a Cancer Registry?
• NAACCR YouTube Video about Cancer Registries
• CDC YouTube Video about Cancer Registries

The physician practice reporting project began in 2007 with a focus on dermatology practices. Reporting has since expanded to other specialties such as urology, hematology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgery centers and gastroenterology. The graph below shows the impact on case completeness for melanoma, prostate, and hematopoietic cancers because of the concentrated effort by the Central Cancer Registry (CCR) to obtain cases managed solely in independent physician practices and cancer treatment centers. These are cases that would not have been reported through the traditional hospital reporting process. Being able to include these cases enables the CCR to provide a more complete picture of cancer incidence in North Carolina to those groups involved in cancer control and prevention activities.

The Central Cancer Registry is established by North Carolina General Statute Chapter 130A - Article 7 (PDF, 21 KB). Effective October 1, 2014, legislation (PDF, 21 KB) mandates electronic reporting to the Central Cancer Registry. Its administrative rules are codified as North Carolina Administrative Code Title 10A - Chapter 47 SubChapter B.

The following PDF packet contains information compiled from various key resources to explain the public health exemption that allows the disclosure of protected health information to cancer registries (a public health authority) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

• Legal Documentation and FAQs Interpreting HIPAA for CCR Reporting (PDF, 785 KB)
• CDC Guidance on HIPAA Privacy Rule

The documents below are intended to assist independent physician practices and free-standing treatment centers in understanding their requirement to report, the types of cases required to be reported and the process of reporting eligible cancer case information to the CCR. CCR staff will work individually with onboarded practices to provide detailed instructions and training for completing the cancer data abstract and meeting the reporting requirements.

• Overview of Physician Practice Reporting Requirements (PDF, 1.7 MB)
• ICD-10-CM Casefinding Codes
• CCR Brochure (PDF, 523 MB)

If you are an independent practice that diagnoses or treats patients with cancer, contact the CCR's Physician Office Coordinator to begin the onboarding process for reporting.