Melanie Shedd
The College of American Pathologists (CAP) is continuously improving its protocols, and it can be a challenge for Pathology departments to maintain their electronic versions and keep pace with the changes. On its website, CAP offers resources and links to partners who can help accredited laboratories stay up to date with the latest versions of the checklists
CAP's Most Recent Release
On January 30, 2018, CAP released a new version of the Breast Invasive and Breast DCIS Cancer Protocols on their website. The updates for the Breast checklists affect compliance and are required to be in place by September 30th, 2018.
CAP has released the electronic version of the two Breast checklists, a new optional “DNA Mismatch Repair Biomarker Testing for Checkpoint Inhibitor Immunotherapy” checklist, and made updates across 54 other checklists.
Note from CAP: “The Prostate Needle Biopsy templates are undergoing extensive revisions and are not included in this release. They will be made available at a later time.”
A Few Important Points about CAP Protocols and eCCs:
- There are differences between the cancer protocols posted on the CAP website and the electronic cancer checklists. Both are CAP approved, but only the eCC is approved for electronic distribution. There is no correlation between differences in content and compliance.
- CAP does not always release the cancer protocols and electronic cancer checklists at the same time.
- Pathologists are expected to use the new protocols and eCCs beginning September 30, 2018.
- As an authorized provider of CAP eCC content, Voicebrook takes away the hassle of updating checklists manually. We update your SRE module within weeks of the eCC release. We ensure your checklists are current, and we offer the flexibility to modify checklists to meet your individual site's reporting needs.
- CAP allows an 8 month grace period for accredited laboratories adopt any new standards. We recognize the importance of immediate implementation; as soon as CAP releases the eCC data, it becomes our top priority. It is also important, however, that the updates to your SRE module go smoothly and meet your reporting needs, so we perform an extensive QA of the data prior to our release date.
What SRE Users Need to Know:
Voicebrook’s March release will include all the CAP changes released for the electronic Cancer Checklists. If you already have SRE, your project manager will get in touch within the next two weeks to schedule the download of the new content.
If you don't have SRE and are interested in how it could simplify your CAP eCC reporting, let us know!
