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Smart Document Solutions' New Cancer Registry Service Makes Short Work of Backlogs

Posted on: Tuesday, 8 August 2006, 12:01 CDT

SDS (Smart Document Solutions), the premier provider of health information management technologies and services today announced a new outsourcing option, remote cancer registry services. An acute shortage of Certified Tumor Registrars (CTRs), combined with abstracting backlogs and new reporting requirements, are creating urgency for registries nationwide.

For example, in Texas, the guidelines of the Texas Department of Health and the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer forced CHRISTUS Spohn Cancer Center to pay greater attention to its cancer registry backlog. CHRISTUS is a six-hospital system that collectively receives between 1,800 to 2,000 new cancer cases each year. Regulations dictate that all cancer cases must be abstracted to the registry within six months of diagnosis. In Texas, if a provider is not compliant within the six-month window, the state performs the abstracting function for the provider organization, which can be quite costly.

The solution came to Tim Osterholm, MPA, Executive Director of Oncology and Imaging Services for CHRISTUS Spohn Cancer Center, and his team after looking at several vendors. Tim and his team chose SDS to handle the hospital's backlog primarily because of their remote coding option. "We chose SDS because they took the time to come to our facility, meet our people, and hear our needs first-hand," states Osterholm. "They really focused on building the relationship and gave us a sense of confidence that they could meet the commitments and get the job done," he concludes. It was also important that SDS had a reasonable per-abstract pricing model versus an hourly fee.

Within four months, the SDS team completed 90% of the backlogged cases. The remaining 10% will be done within a month's time. Maggie Salinas, CTR and coordinator of the CHRISTUS Spohn Cancer Registry, states, "The partnership with SDS is really smooth and working great." Once finished with the backlog, the contractual relationship will continue to allow the current year's abstracts to be completed and the registry to stay up-to-date as new patients are diagnosed.

The SDS Cancer Registry outsourcing program provides industry experienced and American College of Surgeons (ACoS) certified staff to handle the abstracting of cancer cases for accreditation purposes. In addition to typical on-site staffing, remote staffing is available to address departmental space constraints, budgets that can't accommodate travel and expense charges, and larger abstracting projects that require around-the-clock attention.

ABOUT CHRISTUS SPOHN CANCER CENTER

The CHRISTUS Spohn Cancer Center offers radiation oncology, medical oncology, outpatient infusion, a complete breast care program, spiritual and social support services, and cancer registry. In addition to these outpatient services, a dedicated oncology unit is located on the 7th floor of CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Shoreline. The cancer program is accredited as a Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program by the ACoS Commission on Cancer, and is the only accredited program in the region.

ABOUT CHRISTUS SPOHN HEALTH SYSTEM

CHRISTUS Spohn Health System is the region's largest charity care provider and not-for-profit health care system consisting of six hospital campuses--CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi (Shoreline, Memorial and South), CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Alice, CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Beeville and CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Kleberg (Kingsville). The health system is consistently ranked as a leading health system in the area and has received national recognition for several pioneering programs, including cardiac care, clinical excellence and oncology.

ABOUT SDS (Smart Document Solutions)

SDS (Smart Document Solutions), a privately held company based in Alpharetta, GA, is a leading provider of comprehensive health information management solutions. SDS has the experience, technology and resources to provide healthcare organizations with HIM solutions to reduce administrative costs, improve staff efficiency, achieve regulatory compliance, increase patient satisfaction and help manage the revenue cycle -- all while complementing existing EMR workflow. For more information, please visit www.sdshealth.com or call (800) 367-1500 or stop by booth #334 at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) annual convention in Denver, CO, October 7-12, 2006.

Source: Business Wire

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