Cancer biomarkers: the role of structured data reporting.

Context: The College of American Pathologists has been producing cancer protocols since 1986 to aid pathologists in the diagnosis and reporting of cancer cases. Many pathologists use the included cancer case summaries as templates for dictation/data entry into the final pathology report. These summaries are now available in a computer-readable format with structured data elements for interoperability, packaged as "electronic cancer checklists.

Identification of pre-coordinated term candidates in a Cardiology Outpatient Service.

Structured data entry systems have been used to facilitate detailed categorical entries which may be subsequently used for computer-assisted decision support. While these highly organized entry systems may encourage providers to document clinical findings more precisely, the detailed nature of these entries may prove more time consuming than traditional data collection systems. We retrospectively examine results entered in our structured entry system in this study for pre-coordination opportunities as a potential enhancement to the system.