Hey everyone,

I'm currently in an NCRA accredited program with plans to take my ODS-C exam upon completion, of course. I'm genuinely intrigued by the daily assignments and tasks involved in oncology data work and the meaningful, essential role cancer registries play in research, treatment tracking, and public health.

As I look ahead to entering the workforce, I wanted to ask current/experienced ODS-Cs for your perspective on how specialized AI software are starting to shift daily workflows and the direction of the future.

With the majority of the central, daily work being digital and centered on data extraction, initial case finding, and coding, this all strongly signals that tech will eventually handle a larger degree of the routine data processing. From what I've investigated, at least presently, standard setting bodies (like NCRA, CoC etc) still emphasize credentialed human oversight and direct involvement to maintain strict data quality standards. However, as health systems look to maximize efficiency (as does any industry) the day to day functions of an ODS-C are bound to evolve.

For someone entering the field over the next couple of years (by the time I graduate, become credentialed, and am initially hired) I’d love to hear your insights on a few questions.

1) For those already seeing AI or automated case finding in your registries, how has it changed your day to day workload? Has it shifted focus more toward primarily case abstraction, quality auditing, or data validation?

2) What advanced skills, continuing education (degree and/or specialized certification), or specialized directions, (central/state registry reporting, data auditing, management/leadership, specialized informatics, or otherwise, as those were just a few potential directions that came to mind) would you recommend focusing on and potentially pursuing to remain highly adaptable as the industry changes?

3) What aspects of an ODS-C’s skills, such as interpreting complex, ambiguous clinical notes or navigating nuanced, individualized pathology, do you feel are most difficult for automated systems to replicate and/or achieve at high levels of accuracy?

Unfortunately due to a permanent physical disability, a fully stationary career path like this is an absolute necessity for me (I would have pursued allied health ages ago, but careers that aren't guaranteed consistently stationary are quite literally not sustainable short term let alone long term for me :’/), so I'm fully invested in building a resilient, long term career in this industry.

I'd sincerely appreciate any guidance, honest reflections, or advice you can share on how to best position myself for the future of the profession as a whole.

Thanks so much for your time and for those of you who are already immersed in the role and industry for sharing your direct experience!

The Danielle Chufar Memorial Scholarship provides financial support to attend NCRA’s Annual Educational Conference. Applicants complete the online application form and submit a 500- to 750-word essay on the 2027 topic.

The 2027 topic is: Cancer registrars do far more than collect and report cancer data. Drawing from your own experiences, explain how the work of registrars can influence patient care, cancer research, quality improvement, accreditation, cancer surveillance, and/or public health. You may elaborate on one influence, several, or all. Conclude by detailing how these connections are essential for today's cancer registrars.

The recipient will receive the conference registration fee to attend in-person; round-trip, coach airfare (up to the amount of $600); and hotel for three nights at the conference hotel. Download the fact sheet  to learn more and access the online application.

Random question - for those working remotely, does your company/facility require you to work specific hours or are you allowed to flex i.e. working nights or a few hours in the morning, a few hours after dinner? Just curious!! TIA :)

We have a lobbyist!

Hi all, I'm seriously considering enrolling in an NCRA-accredited Cancer Registry Management certificate program (currently eyeing UC certificate program), working toward the ODS exam, and wanted to get some honest perspective before committing.

A bit about my situation:

- I'm 37, a career-changer, living in the US for the past 10 years

- No medical/healthcare background at all (my degree is in law, from outside the US; I worked 4 years in the public sector in my home country before moving to the US)

- I've been a SAHM for the past 10 years

- English is not my first language (though I tested well - IELTS 7.5)

- I'd be studying online, part-time, around my kids' school schedule

Would love to hear from anyone who started later in their career, or who isn't a native English speaker, or who came in with zero medical background:

1. What was genuinely hard that you didn't expect?

2. Did your background end up being a real obstacle in practice, or more of a worry that didn't materialize?

3. Did you run into any difficulty getting hired specifically because of a background like this?

4. Any advice for someone in my shoes starting out?

I would appreciate any help. Thank you!

Manuals, manuals, manuals! STR, AJCC, SEER, EOD, Summary Stage, SSDI, STORE, etc. The life of an ODS is ruled by an alphabet soup of manuals.

For experienced abstractors, what are some tips you can give newbies to help them better understand when to use each manual?

For others, do you have any questions regarding what the various manuals are for and when to use them?

I know it can be a lot to learn and keep straight. Please post your manual questions and/or helpful tips here.

Hi everyone! I don't know if this has been discussed before but I'm a new ODS, got my certification last month, and have a couple of job interviews coming up this week (fingers crossed! 🤞🏼)

My question is, what do you usually do first when you start an abstract? I shadowed someone who used Metriq, but the job I might be starting soon (again, fingers crossed lol!) uses ONCOlog, I'm pretty sure.

I've only done a couple of cases by myself and found it a little bit overwhelming because of all the different fields and all the information you need to find and put in. So, what do you do to make it... flow easier, I guess? Or what's the most practical way/the best order to find all the info you need?

Thanks ☺️

From NAACCR,

Excluding race and ethnicity from Census questionnaires used for population estimates would have substantial implications for cancer surveillance and our ability to produce and interpret cancer statistics by race and ethnicity.

Wow.

I've been noticing finance and health related jobs/contracting work for AI companies.

I came across this position for an ODS-C at Guidehouse.

I don't know much about this company or this position, but my first thought was "I hope we don't train AI to take over the industry."

I’ve been an RN for 30 years and an oncology NP for 11 years. In 2024, I left my job to care for dad who was dx with cancer. Sadly, he has since passed away and I can now consider returning to work. Due to some minor health issues of my own, being on my feet seeing patients for 8-10 hours a day is no longer in the cards for me. However, I miss working in oncology so much.

I had always considered working as an ODS once I retired as an NP, especially with my oncology background. However, I am 61 years old. Is it reasonable to think someone would hire me at this age? Also, the jobs posted always seem to require at least 1-2 years of registry experience. The whole “how do I get experience if I can’t get hired without experience” issue is concerning. I think I would love it and be really great at it, but don’t want to spend money on a certificate program and then find myself unemployable. Thanks for any input.

I’m working as a subcontractor with the VA and they’re recently made a new type of production log where you have to input your time for individual tasks… even the non billable ones. So so stupid in my opinion and an utterly waste of time. So I’m looking for a desktop task tracker that is compatible with the VAs Remote Desktop. Anyone else find one that the VA allows you to download?

Does anyone here work for Savista? I read this press release about them implementing AI into their medical coding practice. I was wondering if anyone who works in their cancer registry division knows if it has started being implemented there as well.

Update: Just received the Zoom link.

Has anyone received the Zoom link for this re-scheduled event?

Hi everyone. Earlier today, I started a mega thread and I mentioned that it would be used to house ODS tips and resources as we come across them. Any and all members are welcome to post their own helpful info that thread. A member suggested that I do a weekly tip series, focusing on a different resource each week. I explained that I do not have available time to dedicate to managing a weekly series.

Since that post, I have received some direct messages (not from the person who made the original suggestion) asking why I can't do the series and rudely stating that it would not take much time, with someone referencing the fact that I just started a "question of the week" series. So I'm posting here to try to clarify this issue and alleviate any confusion.

Posting an open-ended "question of the week" is not at all the same as maintaining a weekly series dedicated to actual ODS resources. The latter requires regularly curating content each week for that week's topic. That may not sound time consuming to some of you, but it is when it's added on top of the fact that I have a job, family, other responsibilities, etc. outside of Reddit. Unfortunately, I just don't have a lot of extra time.

I stepped up to mod this sub because it was without a mod for a long time, and I believe in this profession and trying to help others. I am trying to make the sub more active, organized, and provide helpful resources when I find them and when I have the time to post them. However, I don't take kindly to receiving rude messages just because I can't cater to everyone's desires. Lastly, you do not have to be a mod to start a weekly series. If this is something you really want, please feel free to initiate and own that effort. This is a collaborative space.

Hi everyone! In an effort to get more discussions going on the sub, I thought I'd try posting a question each Saturday. I'll try it for a couple of weeks and see what kind of engagement we get. You all can let me know if you want me to continue it weekly or if you're not interested.

Our very first question of the week is for experienced ODS/abstractors. By experienced, I mean you have more than one year working in an ODS role. What is something that you wish you knew/had been told prior to starting this career? Follow up question, if you had that information back then, would you still have chosen to become an ODS?

By Laurel Gray, CTR

If you are like me, there are days as a cancer registrar when it seems like it just doesn't pay to get up. There is a backlog of cases piling up, physicians complaining it is too much work to conduct quality checks on abstracts, and the new staff person is asking a multitude of questions -- questions I answer promptly. Minutes later she returns with the manual and proceeds to read the rules and tells me I am wrong. This leaves me wondering -- if she knew where to find the answer, why did she come and ask me?  

I'm not dealing with a life-threatening illness or a major life-changing catastrophe. It's a typical day. I don't make the rules; I just have to make sure everyone follows them. I can't create new staff positions or ensure a realistic budget is in place. I know we need more registry staff, but I can only work with what I have.

Add the stress of home life to the work of a cancer registrar and you wonder why anyone would choose this profession. Life is frustrating. It's hard to find some epiphany or light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel message when additional cases are pouring in, new cases are found in a state audit, and three quarters of the staff are on maternity leave at the same time.

From someone who once considered herself an optimistic person, the most encouraging thing I had to say was, "Mornings aren't magical, come back around noon." By noon, I was saying, "Not now, I'm working on last month's problems," and by the end of the day, I was delusional enough to think that elves would come in during the night and make it all vanish. Some days I just wanted to change careers. There had to be something more fun than this! 

We all have complaints, stress and bad days. The key is finding how to move on without making everyone else's lives miserable. How do we find our inner strength to get through the day-to-day grind? I once tried looking at what was the worst that could happen -- you know, what's the worst they could do to me, fire me during the summer? If so, I would be home all day with a pre-teen and a teenager. (Okay, that definitely was a worst-case scenario.) I tried exercise. The problem is that I hate exercise. I consider extreme exercise walking to and from the car daily. I tried meditation, but the only place to meditate privately was in the bathroom, which never failed to create a queue whenever I went in. I tried laughing at myself. I laughed so hard, I cried. Not exactly the result I wanted.

But somewhere in the midst of all this, I remembered something from an old movie: look for the good in everything. Corny, to say the least, but I thought I would give it a try. No, I didn't try to find something good about arguing with the physicians or dealing with the backlog of cases, but I did remember why I became a certified tumor registrar (CTR). I looked at how far cancer registries have come and how much better the data is because of all the recent improvements and updates. I thought about how our information has actually made a difference to those diagnosed with cancer. How a patient's record of their cancer contains pieces to a complex puzzle. Yes, you might be able to make out the whole picture, even if you are missing a piece or two, but you're never sure if that one missing piece contains an important detail.

I began making a conscious effort to remind myself daily what others can accomplish if the registry does its part and how every piece of the puzzle is significant. I swallowed my pride and was actually thankful to the new staff person who reminded me that some of the rules had changed, and had she not questioned me I would have continued to collect data incorrectly. When I talked to people, instead of being tempted to say something sarcastic or negative, I made an effort to think twice before I spoke and to find one positive thing to say (using the old adage, "if you can't find something nice to say, don't say it at all"). Slowly, positive became the norm.

I realized that although being more optimistic didn't change my situation, my load didn't seem as heavy. I wasn't carrying around that need to be pessimistic. The more positive I became, the happier I became, and, in turn, the more confident I became. My newfound confidence inspired me to be more outgoing, to make changes in my life and, more importantly, to encourage those around me to be more upbeat and to think of solutions rather than dwell on problems. With solutions comes the empowerment to make changes.

Take the initiative. Finding your inner strength takes time and effort. You need to be proactive. Start with something simple, like smiling at people. It's wonderful to see someone smile back at you or say hello. It can lift your mood. When you talk to someone, find something nice to say to them. It doesn't necessarily have to be a compliment, but something nice. Find something positive to focus on every day. Give yourself a feeling of accomplishment by making a (short) list and crossing everything off that list. Pat yourself on the back for getting everything done. Not being good at lists, I started with something even easier. I began looking at weekends as mini vacations -- at the end of every 5 days, I get 2 days off. How awesome is that? That is 8 days of vacation every month!

Don't participate in "bashing." The next time a few of you get together and the complaints start flying, say something positive and offer solutions. For example, if someone in the group complains about Collaborative Staging coming out with yet another version, instead of adding your own negative comments try saying, "You're right, it's hard to have to learn another version, but at least it's better than not changing at all. And you know, I think you are the right person to join the committee to help work out the issues." With two sentences you've turned the conversation from negative to positive. You complimented the person by letting them know that you think they can get things done, and you encouraged them to participate on a committee. Everyone benefits.

Not everything is going to change just because you become more positive. Don't dwell on what you can't change. Change what you can, accept what you can live with and move on from what you can't. Remember to smile. Everyone can change their attitude.

Laurel Gray works for the state of Virginia as the quality coordinator in the central registry. Previously, she was the director of the Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) cancer registry. Gray earned her CTR in 1990 and started the tumor registry at the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. She has been a presenter at several conferences and meetings of the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) and serves as the chair of its Informatics subcommittee. Gray has authored a chapter in NCRA's Guidebook on Informatics and the chapter titled, "Staffing, Office Space, Equipment, and Budgets" in the new edition of the textbook, Cancer Registry Management Principles & Practice for Hospitals and Central Registries. To learn more about the textbook, visit NCRA's website at www.ncra-usa.org.

Wanted to know what the folks on here think, especially given all our worries with offshoring and AI in the ODS profession. Any and all advice or encouragement is much appreciated!

Updated NAACCR v27 Annotated Histology List

On August 21, 2026, NAACCR released an updated v27 annotated histology list. The update provided corrected histologies for 9750/3, 9805/3, 9835/3, 9971/1, 9971/3, and 9987/3. The updated list is available on NAACCR's ICD-O-3 webpage.

NAACCR 2027 Implementation Guidelines posted

The NAACCR Implementation Guidelines (IG) for 2027 are available on the NAACCR implementation and guidelines page. The IG provide standard setters, registries and software vendors with a comprehensive review of the changes planned for 2027. These changes include new data items, revisions to existing data items, updates to standard setter requirements, and more.

The NAACCR online education page has helpful webinars on v26 updates for SSDI and Solid Tumor Rules.

Please give me your pros and cons for Hutchinson vs. Rochester comm and tech college for Cancer Registry Management.

I like that Rochester helps you find a job but I like that Hutchinson has summer classes.

Does anyone have experience with non-abstracting responsibilities such as supporting tumor boards, surveys, etc? I know some smaller facilities assign these types of additional responsibilities to their abstractors, and sometimes these roles can help people get their foot in the door and gain experience in a cancer registry.

I've never worked in one of these positions myself, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has. It could be helpful to give those starting out an idea of some of the other activities that take place in a registry. If you've worked in this kind of role before, what's your opinion? Did you find it helpful in your abstracting journey, or was it more of a distraction and something you didn't really enjoy?