This contract meets the needs of the county by providing a cancer checklist for patient reporting. CCRMC's Clinical Laboratory will utilize The College of American Pathologists' electronic Cancer Checklists (CAP eCC) for electronic copyrighted work within the Epic Beaker Anatomic Pathology System to provide vital information to the treating oncologist/surgeon and allow pathologists to use structured reports in a standardized XML format that enables the collection of cancer data elements essential for patient care including tumor staging data used with permission of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and selection of treatment protocols. The CAP Cancer Protocols provide guidelines for collecting the essential data elements for complete reporting of malignant tumors and optimal patient care. These protocols incorporate the latest standards to help pathologists and laboratories keep abreast of the advances and updates in cancer reporting, including The World Health Organization Classification of Tumors (Blue Books) and The American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging Manual. The importance is that some content contained within the CAP eCC is assigned an appropriate systematically organized computer-processable collection of medical terms (SNOMED CT) concept ID that provides definitions used in reporting and used to describe specific procedures, specimens, and morphologic abnormalities, while other content is still in the process of being assigned; not all concepts are eligible for encoding.  
  
The College of American Pathologists was given a sole-source contract for these services as the only provider of the electronic cancer checklists.  
  
This is the initial contract with the contractor and includes a provision for exclusive jurisdiction with resolution only in the US Federal Courts in the Southern District of New York, or New York State Courts located in New York, New York. The contract obligates the County to indemnify the vendor for any claims arising out of County’s use of the product in a manner inconsistent with the agreement. The contract limits the vendor’s liability to the amount paid by County in the twelve months preceding any claim.  
  
Approval of new Contract #23-796 allows this new contractor to provide services through May 31, 2028.

If this contract is not approved, the Clinical Lab won't have access to the structured reports containing essential data needed to treat cancer patients. Without them, Pathologists can't collect cancer data elements vital for patient care. This outcome will adversely affect the care of the County's cancer patients.