College of American pathologists cancer protocols: From optimizing cancer patient care to facilitating interoperable reporting and downstream data use

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Vanda F. Torous, Massachusetts General Hospital; Ross W. Simpson, Houston Methodist Hospital; Jyoti P. Balani, University of Texas Southwestern; Alexander S. Baras, Johns Hopkins University; Michael A. Berman, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital; George Birdsong II, Emory University; Giovanna A. Giannico, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Gladell P. Paner, University of Chicago; Jason R. Pettus, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; Zack Sessions, College of American Pathologists; S. Joseph Joseph Sirintrapun, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; John R. Srigley, University of Toronto; Samantha Spencer, College of American Pathologists
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-01-01
• Publisher: JCO
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/CCI.20.00104
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 47
• End Page: 55
• Keywords: Electronic Health Records; Patient Care; Review Literature as Topic; Pathologists; Neoplasms; Pathology, Clinical; United States; Humans
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Health Sciences, Pathology

Abstract

The College of American Pathologists Cancer Protocols have offered guidance to pathologists for standard cancer pathology reporting for more than 35 years. The adoption of computer readable versions of these protocols by electronic health record and laboratory information system (LIS) vendors has provided a mechanism for pathologists to report within their LIS workflow, in addition to enabling standardized structured data capture and reporting to downstream consumers of these data such as the cancer surveillance community. This paper reviews the history of the Cancer Protocols and electronic Cancer Checklists, outlines the current use of these critically important cancer case reporting tools, and examines future directions, including plans to help improve the integration of the Cancer Protocols into clinical, public health, research, and other workflows.