Why are Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry data almost two years behind?
The Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry collects information from many different sources: hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities throughout the nine-county area. It is very important that the information the registry collects is accurate and complete. It takes time to collect and verify all this information. Complete information on a cancer case and the first course of treatment may not be available until six months after the initial diagnosis. Many cases are reported to the regional registries by multiple facilities or health care providers, and all the reports must be consolidated into a single record containing the best information available. Another factor is the increasing number of cancer patients who are diagnosed and treated in doctors’ offices without ever being admitted to a hospital; more effort is required to find these cases. In addition, the strict quality control procedures needed to produce complete and accurate data are labor intensive. The vast majority of c
