Joelle directs and oversees all aspects of her assigned projects ensuring compliance with registry standards and specifications. She ensures the goals and objectives of each project are met through oversight of her data abstraction teams.
Prior to joining Registry Partners, Joelle served as Registry Services Manager for United Health Services Hospitals in New York. Here she was responsible for oversight and workflow management for seven registries for a multi-hospital system. Registry management included Cancer Registry, Trauma Registry, Stroke Registry, Bariatric Registry, Orthopedic Registry, Congenital Malformations Registry and Occupational Lung Registry. Joelle was also involved in oversight and compliance with the ACoS standards for the Cancer Program, Trauma Registry, NAPBC Certification and Bariatric as well as the American Heart Association’s guidelines for Stroke Certification. Joelle has also served in positions such as Health Information Management Director for Barnes Kasson County Hospital, Medical Records Director for Clarks Summit State Hospital, Cancer Registrar for Northeast Regional Cancer Institute as well as Supervisor of Medical Records for Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Joelle earned her Associate degree in Health Information Management from Broome Community College in Binghamton, NY. She is a Registered Health Information Technologist (RHIT) and Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR). She is also a member of the National Cancer Registrars Association, American Health Information Management Association, Pennsylvania Cancer Registrars Association, American Trauma Society, and Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association.
Joelle resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, two children, dog and horse. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, riding her horse, camping, volunteering and serving on the worship team at her church, walking her dog and reading.
Q & A with Joelle:
Q: How did you become interested in the cancer registry profession?
A: I was working as a coder at a local hospital. I became friends with the tumor registrar as her cubicle was right next to mine, and was always interested in what she did. As she explained her job to me I was fascinated with this type of work. She encouraged me to check into the cancer registry career and provided me with resources to do so. She later turned into my mentor and trained me as I began my career in Cancer Registry.
Q: What makes your career interesting?
A: I love the fact that this career is always changing, and that new treatments are being developed that provide better outcomes. There are always opportunities to learn! It is so rewarding to see that all of the data we so carefully collect and how it is used to generate national statistics as well as provide support to our cancer programs as we look for ways to improve patient care.
Q: How do you describe the cancer registry profession and the work we do to family and friends?
A: To those unfamiliar with what we do, I think our work can be best described as recording the cancer patient’s journey, beginning with their diagnosis and following them to end of life. This journey includes their diagnosis, their workup to assess the extent of their cancer, assignment of their cancer stage, recording their treatment, and then following them throughout their lives, documenting cancer free intervals and/or recurrences.