Recap of the Michigan Cancer Registrars Association
42nd Annual Educational Conference
September 28-29, 2017
Janet Raleigh, BS, RHIA, CTR
As always, the MICRA annual meeting was a great success, well attended and included many great speakers and presentation topics.
One of the presentations was focused on the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Database. A take away point was the histologic coding of Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) versus more specific histologies. When ambiguous terms such as “most likely” are used to describe a diagnosis on a bone marrow biopsy it should not be used to code the histology, ie: Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) on bone marrow biopsy, CD7 and CD33 positive, but CD13 negative; most likely AML w/myelodysplasia changes. The appropriate histology code should be 9989/3, Myelodysplastic Syndrome, not 9895/3 Acute Myeloid Leukemia with myelodysplasia-related changes.
Additionally, Rick Mancini from Metriq, shared software specific tips relating to the use of filters within reports. He encouraged registrars to use the test function for filters, to ensure that each filter has been created correctly. Another helpful hint Rick shared regarding blank data items, was to filter for blank data items by tabbing through the Enter Value window. He also explained that special filters exist for primary site codes. Primary site codes allow for filtering on primary site without entering the range of sub site codes and/or site-histology combinations without having to enter each site and histology code. Examples provided were: Ex P-34 NSCC Lung, P-35 SCC Lung, P-77 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and P-78 Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Another highlight of the meeting was a basket raffle. Facilities from across the state were asked to assemble and donate various gift baskets to be raffled off at the conference. Half of the proceeds from the raffle were donated to the Pardee Cancer Treatment Fund which provides financial assistance for cancer-related medical expenses.
Registry Partners raffled off two Visa Gift Cards at the conference. Janet Raleigh, BS, RHIA, CTR, Project Manager and QC Manager for Registry Partners is pictured below with our lucky winners, Lora WagenMaker and Maggie Nelson.
Lora Wagenmaker & Janet Raleigh (right)
Maggie Nelson & Janet Raleigh (left)