Since December FCDS has been busy on a number of fronts. No wonder I completely forgot about the January Monthly Memo. FCDS understands that many of you were less than thrilled to receive the most recent Quarterly Status Report. We are working with representatives of FTRA to address your concerns. However, FCDS does feel that this report is an incredibly valuable tool for you, your facility administrator and for us to communicate details regarding the current status of cancer reporting by your institution.
Cancer is a legislatively mandated, reportable disease in the state of Florida.
It has been since 1981. FCDS models most of its policies and procedures after other established standard setting organizations and registries. The recent review of the 1996 reporting year has reinforced that FCDS is on the right track with regard to timeliness of reporting, completeness of reporting and quality of data received. We are not there yet, but we are getting closer to our goals every day. We all have something to be proud of in our state registry.