McHenry County College launches new certificate in cancer registry management

McHenry County College is offering a new health care industry certificate in the spring semester.

Cancer registry management, an addition to the College’s Health Information Management program, will train students in case finding, coding and staging of disease and treatment for proper abstracting, according to a news release.

Cancer registrars collect and code data that provides essential information to researchers and health care providers. Nationally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for health information technicians and cancer tumor registrars to grow by 9% from 2020 to 2030.

There are currently only 12 accredited cancer registry certificate programs in the United States. MCC will become the 13th in the nation and one of only two community colleges offering the program in Illinois.

The program is intended for students who have completed an associate degree. Students with a degree in health information management are at an advantage as they will have already completed the prerequisites, the college said in the release.

The classes will be offered in an eight-week, flexible online format, including an optional drop-in session with faculty weekly.

The capstone course of the program is a clinical practicum that will give students hands-on professional practice in cancer registry. Upon completion of the program, students will be prepared to take the cancer tumor registrar certification exam through the National Cancer Registrars Association.

The college will host three info sessions for students interested in joining the program at 6 p.m. Sept. 15, Oct. 18, and Nov. 30. The sessions will be held via Zoom. Students can join the sessions at https://bit.ly/3dUTp9W.

The cancer registry management program starts in January 2023.

For more information, go to www.mchenry.edu/registry or contact Chris Coclanis-Loding at ccoclanis-loding@mchenry.edu or 815-455-8713.