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When referring physicians review a cancer pathology report, they look for key pieces of information to guide their treatment decisions for the best possible patient outcomes. Having data in a standardized, synoptic format ensures all pertinent information is included, enabling physicians to quickly and easily find what they’re looking for—and therefore enabling more rapid and effective treatment decisions.
Recognized as a worldwide “gold standard” in cancer reporting, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Cancer Protocols help laboratories create the highest quality cancer reports, following the latest standards and guidelines to support improved patient care. In addition, the CAP Cancer Protocols can help laboratories:
- Standardize processes for new and experienced pathologists
- Manage varied or less-familiar cases
- Reduce time spent on incomplete reports
- Meet and maintain compliance/accreditation requirements
- Measure quality within and across laboratories, networks, and systems
- Contribute to cancer research for improved treatments
The CAP Cancer Committee develops these guidelines in collaboration with cancer experts, such as oncologists, molecular experts, radiologists, surgeons, cancer registrars, and other health care professionals, to aid pathologists in cancer reporting. The Pathology Electronic Reporting (PERT) Committee integrates these standards into a computer-readable electronic format for pathologist use in AP-Laboratory Information Systems (LIS).
We offer two cancer reporting solutions
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Cancer Protocols
Since 1986, the CAP Cancer Protocols have provided a structure for consistent and meaningful information, enabling health care professionals to manage and study clinical data, resulting in improved patient care. Printable versions of the standards are freely available in MS Word and PDF formats and are used by thousands of pathologists and other medical professionals to provide complete and uniform reporting of malignant tumors.
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CAP electronic Cancer Protocols (eCP)
The electronic versions of over 100 Cancer Protocols and Cancer Biomarker Templates help pathologists create high quality cancer reports within their current system workflows. The CAP electronic Cancer Protocols (formerly known as electronic Cancer Checklists, or CAP eCC), enable health care professionals to better manage information through standardized, structured electronic reporting of cancer data. The CAP electronic Cancer Protocols can be built directly into most popular AP-LIS systems or can be powered by mTuitive (formerly known as electronic Forms and Reporting Module, or CAP eFRM), which delivers real-time updates of the latest protocols and biomarkers to ensure report completion and automatic content maintenance.
Approximately 45% of hospitals with >400 beds in the United States are licensed to use the CAP electronic Cancer Protocols for diagnostic cancer reporting.1
- Torous et al, “College of American Pathologists Cancer Protocols: From Optimizing Cancer Patient Care to Facilitating Interoperable Reporting and Downstream Data Use,” American Society of Clinical Oncology, January 2021