Call for Abstracts
NCRA 41st Annual Educational Conference
May 20-23, 2015
San Antonio, TX
Share your expertise with the cancer registrar community at NCRA’s 41st Annual
Educational Conference to be held at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter in San
Antonio, TX, May 20-23, 2015. Abstracts will be accepted through the NCRA online
collection center from July 15–September 12, 2014. All submissions will be acknowledged
and reviewed by the 2015 Program Committee. Selected presenters will be notified by
October 30, 2014.
Submission Guidelines
The presentation abstract must include three learning objectives, a 100 to 250-word session
description, and a 100-word presenter bio. We are accepting abstract proposals for both
plenary (45-60 minutes) and concurrent sessions (30-45 minutes). Abstracts should have a
short title that is descriptive. The 2015 Program Committee reserves the option to edit titles
and descriptions for promotional purposes. Please do NOT send supplemental materials
(PowerPoint presentations, photos, articles or reports). These will not be seen by the
Program Committee. Selected presenters will be asked to submit a PowerPoint presentation
and additional materials at a later date. The person submitting the abstract will be the main
point-of-contact, receiving all correspondence from NCRA. They are asked to keep their coauthors informed.
Topic Areas
AJCC
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TNM Staging
General rules for TNM staging
How to directly code clinical and pathological T,N,M
TNM staging of specific sites: breast, lung, colon, prostate, and bladder
Summary Stage
 General rules for Summary Stage
 Assigning Summary Stage for specific sites: breast, lung, colon, prostate, and
bladder
Abstracting/Coding
 Reporting recurrences
 Coding errors for various sites (use examples)
 How to do Concurrent Abstracting
 Perfecting day-to-day abstracting
 FORD’s changes and challenges
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Grade as it relates to various sites
Reconstructive surgery coding
Abstracting specific sites
Casefinding: Electronic Path Reporting, hospital merges, manual processes
Diseases/Treatments/Anatomy
 Physician presentation on disease, treatment, and/or anatomy, followed by
instructions on coding
 Stem cell transplants (bone marrow/cord blood)
 Hematopoietic diseases
 Pediatric cancers
 Site-specific presentations: liver, urology, pancreas
CoC
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Open Q&A with CoC
Interpreting new/revised standards/Q&A
Quality improvement studies to meet standards/Q&A
Preparing the SAR/Q&A
Preparing for Survey/Q&A
Update on standards and implementation of 3.1, 3.2, 3.3/Q&A
Informatics
 Advanced training on informatics
Central Cancer Registries
 Central registry processes
 Quality assurance in the central cancer registry
 Coding for central registries
 Data consolidation/editing in the central registry (perspectives and challenges: big
picture)
 Improving data reporting: central registry, NCDB, SEER, NPCR
Data
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Improving data reporting
The value of visual editing when summarizing data
How to design studies, analyze the data, and report/present it
Preparing presentations, including graphs and statistical reports
Uses of cancer registry data
How to use Meaningful Use data
Data reporting: Where does the data go?
Errors, incompleteness, sloppy text: What is your data really saying?
Hematopoietic
 Changes in MPH Database/Manual (solid tumor rules)
 Hematopoietic Data Base
 Hematopoietic coding
 Leukemia/lymphoma diagnosis testing, treatments, and recurrence/progression
Professional Development/Management
 Using RQRS data at Committee meetings
 RQRS and the use of a nurse navigator
 Working remotely: what the independent contractor needs to know
 Role of the cancer registrar in building a healthy community
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“I Can’t Always Tell You What You Want to Hear:” Working with Hospital
Administrators
CoC Standard 5.1: Is it impacting the CTR’s work status?
Update on mentoring
CTR Recruitment: Success Stories
Quality
 Enhance your cancer program through quality outcomes
 How to be an effective cancer registry quality coordinator
 Working successfully with your quality management department
 Pay-for-Performance
 Key quality measures
ICD-10 CM/PCS
 Implementation
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