Hello Everyone,
We are very excited to have the FHIR Central Cancer Registry Reporting Content IG (Cancer Content IG) released for ballot review from 12/10/2021 through 1/9/2022. The official HL7 ballot name of this guide is HL7 FHIR® Implementation Guide: Making EHR Data More Available for Research and Public Health (MedMorph); Cancer Use Case, Release 1- US Realm (FHIR_IG_MEDMORPH_CANCER_R1_D1_2022JAN ).
We would like to alert everyone to a known issue with the Primary Cancer Condition profile of the Cancer Content IG. The Cancer Content IG makes use of the mCODE Profiles where US Core and US Public Health do not meet the data needs for cancer registries. For most cancer registry data needs, the mCODE Profiles are a good fit. However, there are two (2) data elements in the mCODE profiles that do not meet the cancer registries need. In an effort to not create a new separate cancer registry primary cancer condition profile, MedMorph would like to discuss the below items with mCODE further:
- Cancer registries require the date a recognized practitioner determines a patient has cancer. The data element that captures this is assertedDate, which is optional in the mCODE Primary Cancer Condition profile. The cancer registry community must have the assertedDate as 1..1 and cannot be modified. A tracking ticket (FHIR-34440) has been created to discuss this issue further with the mCODE leadership, with the hopes that mCODE will be willing to tighten the cardinality on this date to their profiles to accommodate cancer registry data needs.
- Cancer registries need to know the kind of evidence that was used as input to the clinical judgment of cancer diagnosis. The data element and value set that captures this is evidenceType found in the mCODE CancerDiseaseStatus profile. A tracking ticket (FHIR-34441) has been created to discuss this issue further with the mCODE leadership, with the hopes of incorporating this element into the mCODE Primary Cancer Condition profile.
If the two items cannot be resolved with modifications to the existing mCODE profiles, then a new Cancer Registry Primary Cancer Condition profile will be developed.
NOTE: Registration to participate in the official HL7 Ballot closed on 12/9/2021. If you were unable to register for the HL7 Ballot and would like to contribute comments on the IG, then please email Gakeria Kirton at qvt9@cdc.gov for more information on how to do so.
Thank you,
Sandy