The National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA), formerly National Tumor Registrars Association, is a not-for-profit association representing

cancer registry A cancer registry is a systematic collection of data about cancer and tumor diseases. The data are collected by Cancer Registrars. Cancer Registrars capture a complete summary of patient history, diagnosis, treatment, and status for every cancer ...

professionals and Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) certificants. NCRA's primary focus is

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

. Worldwide, there are over 5,800 NCRA members and nearly 4,500 CTRs. NCRA provides ongoing training through various mediums including annual conferences, workshops, publications, and their continuing education credit program. NCRA's current advocacy and outreach efforts is the application for a change in the Standard Occupational Classification to the Office of Management and Budget. NCRA is a partner of the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

's National Program of Cancer Registries. "Cancer registrars are data information specialists that capture a complete history, diagnosis, treatment, and health status for every cancer patient in the U.S. The data provide essential information to researchers, healthcare providers, and public health officials to better monitor and advance cancer treatments, conduct research, and improve cancer prevention and screening programs." These registrars have an average annual salary of $60,000.

Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) Certification

The Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) certification examination is administered by NCRA's Council on Certification. NCRA’s Council on Certification promotes standardization in the collection and use of cancer data through examination and certification of Cancer Registrars and other cancer data specialists. The first exam was offered in 1983. NCRA accredits education programs that offer associate’s degrees and certificates in Cancer Registry Management (CRM) or Cancer Information Management (CIM). The AHIMA CRM Program helps enrollees qualify for the CTR certification exam. It is a web-based program which assists in gaining the following skills: * Accurately abstract health information into a cancer registry to allow for uniform data collection * Manage an effective cancer registry program at a local, state or national level * Produce cancer related information to assist healthcare providers in patient care and research * Provide information for cancer prevention activities

Standard Occupational Classification

On July 21, 2014, The National Cancer Registrars Association submitted a proposal for a new occupation code for Medical Registrars. The reasoning behind this proposal is because the duties and tasks of actual registrars are more advanced than what the current code and description states. Currently, medical registrars are classified as SOC 29-2071 ''Medical Records and Health Information Technicians''. If this code was to change the occupation's statistics would be improved and provide a clearer understanding of workforce needs so they do not get confused with other occupations like

medical coder A clinical coder—also known as clinical coding officer, diagnostic coder, medical coder, or nosologist—is a health information professional whose main duties are to analyse clinical statements and assign standard codes using a classification ...

s. The SOC is revised every ten years, and the revision is a multi-year process.

History

NCRA was established in 1974 as National Tumor Registrars Association. The first CTR exam was offered in 1983, and in 2003 NCRA took over the exam when it used to be administrated by the National Board for Certification of Registrars.

References

{{Authority control Cancer organizations based in the United States