Highlights From the NAACCR CAP PERT Meeting

The July 2023 CAP PERT meeting resulted in updates to protocol release, mapping, Cancer Data Summit, resources, and more.

A College of American Pathologists (CAP) PERT meeting was held virtually as well as in-person in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sunday, July 9, and Monday, July 10, 2023. Highlights of this meeting included:

2023 Protocol Release and Mapping Updates

Quarter 3 Release is scheduled for September 20 and will include 34 protocols, including three NEW Hematopoietic (Lymphoid Precursor, Bone Marrow, and Plasma Cell) protocols; and updates or corrections to 12 Pediatrics, 15 Genitourinary, Lung biomarker, IHC biomarker, and Anal Excision protocols; and a NEW Anogenital Cytopathology protocol. The four existing hematology cancer protocols will be retired: Bone Marrow, Hodgkin Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Plasma Cell.

Quarter 4 Release is scheduled for December 13 and will cover at least 14 protocols including NEW Autopsy, NEW Endocrine (Pituitary Neuroendocrine which will be required for accreditation), and a NEW Melanoma. In addition, AJCC updates to Vulva and the six GI NET protocols will occur, and the six GI NETs will also be updated to WHO 5^th Edition.

2024 Releases

These will include: NEW Conjunctival Melanoma, NEW Parathyroid, NEW Paraganglioma and Pheochromocytoma, and NEW Bone protocols. Release dates are scheduled for:

• Quarter 1: March 20, 2024
• Quarter 2: June 19, 2024
• Quarter 3: September 18, 2024
• Quarter 4: December 11, 2024

eCP to SNOMED Mapping Project

Dr. Scott Campbell, University of Nebraska, provided an update on this project and asked the committee for feedback on questions to date. An incredible amount of work has been completed and is awaiting corrections and minor additions identified by CAP. Future work such as expansion into biopsy and other protocols, distribution of content, maintenance and revision cycle, training, etc. was also discussed.

Cancer Data Summit

This is a new name but same concept for what was previously User Group meetings. This year’s summit, “The Future of Cancer Data: Unlocking Insights with Pathology Reporting” was be held in Chicago on Oct. 6. Goals of this meeting were to explore and identify opportunities to shape the future of pathology data use, discuss how quality improvement programs benefit from standardized use of synoptic reporting within and across laboratories, and how public health initiatives benefit from utilizing pathology reporting.

CAP Podcasts 

Also called CAPcasts have three sessions of interest specific to the cancer registry community. Released in May with collaboration from NCRA, the first one featured Dr. Lara Harik, the Vice Chair of the CAP Cancer Committee and Mildred Jones, CTR, NCRA Liaison to the CAP Cancer Committee discussing the basics of cancer registry from a hospital perspective. The second podcast released in July features Peggy Adamo, BA, CTR of NCI/SEER and Andrea Sipin-Baliwas, MS, CTR of the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program where they discuss central cancer registries. The third in this series will be led by Dr. Alison Van Dyke of NCI/SEER who will focus on the SEER Registry.