CTR Data Quality Assurance & Cancer Program Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which NCDB standard requires that a cancer program perform a minimum number of analytic cases per year to maintain accreditation?
- Standard 1.1 (Correct answer)
- Standard 4.6
- Standard 2.3
- Standard 5.2
Correct answer: Standard 1.1
Standard 1.1 specifies the minimum analytic caseload requirement a program must meet annually for CoC accreditation.
Question 2: In NAACCR data quality assessment, what does a high 'unknown' rate for the 'method of diagnosis' field most likely indicate?
- Excellent data abstraction
- Incomplete medical record review or abstractor training gaps (Correct answer)
- High proportion of autopsy cases
- Accurate reflection of community demographics
Correct answer: Incomplete medical record review or abstractor training gaps
A high unknown rate in the method of diagnosis field typically signals gaps in abstractor training or incomplete review of source documents.
Question 3: A cancer committee is reviewing quality metrics and finds the facility's DCO (Death Certificate Only) rate is 8%. What is the benchmark most registries strive to achieve?
- Less than 5% (Correct answer)
- Less than 15%
- Less than 20%
- Less than 1%
Correct answer: Less than 5%
A DCO rate below 5% is the generally accepted quality benchmark, indicating the registry is successfully obtaining clinical information before or beyond death certificate data.
Question 4: Which data quality measure evaluates whether cases diagnosed at the reporting facility were reported within the required timeframe?
- Completeness rate
- Timeliness rate (Correct answer)
- Accuracy rate
- Duplicate rate
Correct answer: Timeliness rate
The timeliness rate measures whether cases are abstracted and submitted within established deadlines set by state or accrediting bodies.
Question 5: When a tumor registrar identifies a discrepancy between the abstracted TNM stage and the stage documented by the physician in the medical record, the correct action is to:
- Always defer to the physician's documented stage
- Apply AJCC staging rules independently and document the discrepancy (Correct answer)
- Leave the field blank until the physician is consulted
- Use the lower stage to avoid overstaging
Correct answer: Apply AJCC staging rules independently and document the discrepancy
Registrars are trained to apply AJCC rules based on all available information and must document any discrepancy with the physician's stage in the record.
Question 6: Under CoC standards, which committee is primarily responsible for reviewing cancer registry data quality and ensuring compliance with accreditation standards?
- Tumor Board
- Cancer Committee (Correct answer)
- Quality Assurance Committee
- Credentials Committee
Correct answer: Cancer Committee
The Cancer Committee is the governing body responsible for overseeing the cancer program, including registry data quality and accreditation compliance.
Question 7: A registrar is auditing cases and finds that 'race' is coded as unknown for 12% of cases. Which resource should be consulted to improve race coding accuracy?
- AJCC Cancer Staging Manual
- NAACCR Race and Ethnicity Code Set Volume II (Correct answer)
- SEER Summary Staging Manual
- ICD-O-3 Topography Index
Correct answer: NAACCR Race and Ethnicity Code Set Volume II
NAACCR publishes the Race and Ethnicity Code Set which provides standardized definitions and coding guidance for race data elements.
CTR Data Quality Assurance & Cancer Program Standards 2
Which NCDB standard requires that a cancer program perform a minimum number of analytic cases per year to maintain accreditation?