About A.Fritz and Associates

After a more than three decades as a trainer of hospital-based registrars and a decade as the manager of education and training for the SEER program, April Fritz has identified not only the important issues in cancer registry education, but also a group of skilled individuals who can deliver training on a variety of subjects in workshops large and small.  She and her associates are comfortable in a variety of formats, including single or multiple-day presentations in front of groups, more comprehensive training programs lasting five days or longer, online classroom settings, videoconferencing, and newer technologies such as webcasting and webconferencing.   

A.Fritz and Associates can provide your group with information on the cutting edge, as well as traditional issues at any level from basic registrar training to administrative overviews.

April has recently completed The Cancer Registry CASEbook: Coding, Abstracting, Staging and Exercises.  This book provides comprehensive, illustrated, site-specific information and practica for beginner and intermediate level cancer registrars.  Here are more details.

• International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third edition

• AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, seventh edition

• AJCC Cancer Staging Atlas (published 2006)

• Collaborative Staging and Coding Manual

• SEER Summary Staging Manual 2000

• Cancer Registry Management: Principles and Practice, first edition (NCRA textbook)

•  Workbook for Staging of Cancer (NCRA)

• Notes on Anatomy and Oncology

Louanne Currence, RHIT, CTR, has worked in healthcare more than 30 years and been a hospital-based registrar for over fifteen years.  Several years ago, the Missouri Cancer Registry recognized her skills as a trainer and she became the Education Coordinator for the statewide registry.  In addition, she is a popular speaker among registry professionals in many states.  Her sense of humor and depth of registry knowledge keep her in demand for presentations to beginner and experienced groups on a wide variety of topics.  She is active in regional and state professional associations and the National Cancer Registrars Association.  Louanne believes the greatest attribute of a good registrar is curiosity and she enjoys learning about new things so she can share with others.

Marilyn Hansen, CTR, brings a wealth of experience to A.Fritz and Associates.  Ms. Hansen has been in the cancer registry field for over 25 years and has expertise in both hospital and central cancer registries.  She received her CTR credential in 1990.  Ms. Hansen is currently a supervising Public Health Representative for the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) and serves as their Education Coordinator.  She is also a cancer registry consultant for a private company.  Her professional activities include service in numerous registrar organizations.  She is a past President of the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA), a past NCRA Eastern Regional Director, and past President of Oncology Registrars Association of New Jersey (ORANJ). She serves on the ORANJ Education Committee.  
         
As Education Coordinator for the New Jersey Cancer Registry since 2001, Ms. Hansen has developed and taught educational workshops for beginning, intermediate, and advanced level registrars.  In addition to being one of the preferred co-teachers for A.Fritz and Associates workshops, she has also developed and taught a Pre-Certification Exam Review Workshop that attracted attendees from neighboring states as well as New Jersey.  She is a popular speaker and trainer at workshops not only in New Jersey, but nationwide as well.
 
Ms. Hansen believes that a registrar's greatest attribute is attention to detail so that the data collected is of high quality and meaningful to physicians and researchers in the war on cancer.  

Annette Hurlbut, RHIT, CTR, has over 28 years of experience in the cancer registry field. She earned an Associate of Science degree in Health Information Technology in 1978. She has been a CTR since 1983. Annette's work experience includes 10 years as a single facility registrar, 24+ years in freelance abstracting, and completing many special projects for the registry profession. For the past twenty years she has held many different positions for registry software vendors, beginning with ELM Services and, since 1997, as a Quality Engineer for IMPAC Medical Systems, Inc.  She has performed as a consultant, at times under contract, for the American College of Surgeons’, National Cancer Institute SEER Program, as well as SNOMED, and many others. She has published a number of articles and is most active in the editorial review of standards documents, including an acknowledgement in ICD-O-3 and editor in SEER Summary Stage 2000. Recently, she has given presentations at the NCRA and NAACCR Annual Meetings and been published in the Journal of Registry Management. Annette is an active member of the New York Cancer Registrars Association; NCRA; member of NAACCR Information and Technology Committee; Uniform Data Standards Committee; Interoperability Work Group; Communications; EDITS Subcommittee, Standards Implementation and numerous other 'adhoc' work groups.

Robert G. Fritz, Colonel, USA (Ret.), spent more than 28 years in the Army where his primary focus was on communications-electronics and operational planning.  He held a wide variety of command and staff assignments including 8 years on the Department of Army staff in the Pentagon--both in uniform and as a civilian after his retirement.  Bob handles all of the behind-the scenes financial, logistical, information technology and support functions for the company.  He also is the company webmaster and operates a web design and hosting company as a subsidiary of A.Fritz and Associates. 

A.Fritz and Associates, LLC is a woman-owned
small business and is an equal-opportunity employer.