PHI Cancer Registry of Greater California Information

The Cancer Registry of Greater California’s mission is to capture timely, high quality data from all cancer patients diagnosed in 48 of California’s 58 counties, and to utilize this information for cancer research to improve health outcomes and reduce cancer morbidity and mortality. After a patient is diagnosed with cancer at a doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital, the diagnosis and patient information is reported to CRGC where a trained certified tumor registrar analyzes the tumor location, size, type, and other information, creating a case file that is entered into a statewide system along with all the other tumors. This valuable data is used by doctors, researchers and other health professionals to inform cancer prevention research, cancer care and treatment, and improve health outcomes. Cancer cases (excluding basal and squamous cell carcinoma) are mandated by law to be reported to public health authorities. The CRGC is designated by the California Department of Public Health to collect the information for over 90% of the state’s geography. Click here for a list of counties covered by the CRGC. In addition to data collection, the CRGC is responsible for checking the accuracy of the data collected, including identifying and collecting missing data. Data are collected regarding cancer diagnoses and treatment from hospitals, physician offices (M.D.), laboratories and other sources. Quality control checks are performed at the CRGC before the data is submitted to the California Cancer Registry’s statewide cancer database. The CRGC is a project of the Public Health Institute.