The Florida Cancer Data System, located at Sylvester, recently received three important distinctions for the quality of its cancer registry data.

For the 17th consecutive year, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries awarded Gold Certification to the Florida Cancer Data System (FCDS). This certification is reserved for central registries that meet the highest levels of data completeness, quality, and timeliness in cancer registry surveillance.

The Florida registry also was recognized as a 2018 Registry of Distinction and a 2019 U.S. Cancer Statistics Registry for Surveillance. These awards mean that FCDS met or exceeded national benchmarks established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) Program Standards 2017-2022.

As a Registry of Distinction, the FCDS – Florida’s legislatively mandated, population-based registry – joins only 22 other state registries to merit this achievement. In addition, the cumulative state data from FCDS will be part of the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. This report is a collaboration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute.

“These data are a crucial part of cancer surveillance systems because they are used for research, planning, operating, funding, and evaluating cancer control programs,” said Gary Levin, deputy project director for the FCDS. “Complete and accurate data are essential when assessing variations in and changes among population subgroups over time.”

“None of the recent recognition and awards would be possible without the combined efforts of experts and staff at the FCDS, the Florida Department of Health, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the CDC NPCR program,” Levin said. “Perhaps most importantly, we rely on the talented and dedicated people working across the state of Florida to bring high-quality data into the Florida Cancer Data System.”

Established in 1978 as a joint endeavor between the Florida Department of Health and Sylvester, the FCDS began operation in 1979 with a pilot project for cancer registration. In 1981, it began statewide collection of cancer incidence data from all Florida hospitals.

The registry is now an industry leader in the automated data collection, analysis and curation of cancer data reported from hospitals, freestanding ambulatory surgical centers, radiation therapy facilities, pathology laboratories, and private physician offices.