A.Fritz and Associates, LLC -  Preparing Cancer Registry Professionals for the Future


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 provids comprehensive, illustrated, site-specific information and practica for beginner and intermediate level cancer registrars.  Here are more details.

AprilApril Fritz, RHIT, CTR, habeen a teacher and trainer of cancer registry professionals for more than thirty years.  Until the spring of 2006, she was the Manager of Data Quality for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland.  Prior to her federal service, she was employed by several hospitals and a cancer registry software vendor.

 

April developed the Principles of Oncology for Cancer Registry Professionals training program in 1992.  She has made presentations to dozens of cancer registry organizations and has been a consultant to many cancer organizations, including the Commission on Cancer, the American Joint Committee on Cancer, SNOMED International, International Agency for Cancer Research, and the American Veterinary Medical Association

 

April combines her registry technical knowledge with skill and experience as a writer.  She has served on the editorial committees of numerous international standard registry references, including the

 

In addition to the standard registry references, she has developed a variety of tools for cancer registrars, such as

  • SEER*Rx, the cancer registrar’s interactive antineoplastic drug database

  • Abstracting and Coding Guide for the Hematopoietic Diseases

  • The Brain Book, Abstracting & Coding Guidelines for Primary Central Nervous System Tumors 

  • Single versus Subsequent Primaries of Lymphatic and Hematopoietic Diseases

  • The Registrar's Key to Abstracting

  • Professional Review for Cancer Registrars (Florida Cancer Registrars Association CTR exam preparation manual)

A former president of the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA), April is active in state and national professional organizations.  Professional honors include the Distinguished Member and Education awards from the National Cancer Registrars Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, and service awards from the National Cancer Institute.
 

 

Louanne CurrenceLouanne 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.

 

 

 Cynthia Boudreaux, LPN, CTR, has worked in the healthcare field for 18 years.  She began her career as a License Practical Nurse and then moved to the cancer registry field, earning her CTR in 1997.  She has worked in the cancer registries of several New Orleans area hospitals, most recently at Memorial Medical Center until that facility was closed by Hurricane Katrina.  Cynthia now offers her expertise as a independent contract abstractor and consultant for several hospitals within the New Orleans region.  She was the Midwestern Regional Director for the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA) from 2003-2005, Committee Chair of the Advocacy Taskforce from 2004-2005,  and member of the Formal Education committee with the NCRA.  From 2000 until 2003, she was the President of the Louisiana Cancer Registrars Association (LCRA).  She is currently the NCRA Liaison  to the American Joint Committee on Cancer and the Chair of LCRA's Education Committee.  Cynthia is also a Commission on Cancer-trained Independent Cancer Program Consultant.

 

AnnetteAnnette 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.

 

Helen L. Lewis, BS, CTR, has over 22 years experience in the cancer registry field, including more than 13 years in a Community Hospital Cancer Program; approximately eight years managing the Cancer Registry at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Center, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Program; and almost a year as a cancer program consultant.  She completed a medical secretarial science program that included courses in human anatomy and physiology and medical terminology.  She earned her CTR in 1986.  After returning to school, Helen graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Management from the University of West Florida School of Business and was selected for membership in the Phi Kappa Phi collegiate honor society.  She has presented cancer registry topics for multiple groups including the National Cancer Registrars Association (NCRA), the Florida Cancer Registrars Association (FCRA), Texas Tumor Registrars Association (TxTRA) and local/regional organizations.  She has served as NCRA Hospital Cancer Program SIG Liaison, FCRA President and FCRA Education Chair and served on ad hoc CTR exam construction committees for NCRA and the GYN Task Force for the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, 6th edition. Currently Helen is the FCRA Liaison to the Cancer Control and Research Advisory Council charged with advising the Florida governor and state legislature on cancer-related issues.

 

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.