Challenges in the maintenance of an open hospital-based cancer registry system in a low-to-middle-income country (LMIC): 2017–2022 experience

Abstract

Hospital-based cancer registries (HBCRs) record data on all patients diagnosed and/or treated for cancer at healthcare facilities and evaluate the burden of the disease and the quality of healthcare services at that hospital, helping improve patient care, and providing assessment of healthcare quality. The CARE PH app was created as a tool to facilitate a system of hospital-based cancer registries in the Philippines, a lower middle-income coun try. From 2017 to 2022, a total of 60,021 cancer registrants from 44 CARE PH hospitals were entered into the database. Breast cancer was the most common primary site, accou ing for 17,660 cases (29.4%). This was followed by colorectal cancer at 11.1%, cervical ca cer at 6.2%, head and neck cancer at 5.9%, and prostate and other male genital cancer at 5.1%.Among the 30 data fields collected, 17 exhibited 0–20% missing data, eight displaye 21%-90% missing data, while five depicted 91%-100% missing data. Most of the data field with missing data are in the treatment and follow-up modules, which are stored in separate forms in a patient’s record. Digital transformation of hospitals from paper-based charts to electronic medical records, and the integration of the HBCR to the EMR and hospital information system, will likely be the best solution for these limitations. It is recommended that the creation and maintenance of HBCRs nationwide must be harmonized, and embedded all relevant national programs and legislations. The development of an information technol ogy process that is based on a cancer patient’s journey, should be built on an open system embedded in a well designed enterprise architecture, functioning under the guidance of a strong leadership and governance team. All these must be present in order to create and maintain a robust HBCR that is useful for furthering cancer registry and research in the country.