title: Estimating the cost of operating cancer registries: Experience in Colombia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maintaining population-based registries requires adequate and sustained resources; however, to date there has been no systematic evaluation to identify the resource needs for cancer registration in most countries, including Colombia. A systematic assessment of the costs can quantify the funding required and identify processes to improve efficiency of cancer registries.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) International Registry Costing Tool (IntRegCosting Tool) was tailored specifically for the Colombian registries and was used to collect resource use data from five regional population-based cancer registries: Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cali, Manizales, and Pasto. The registries provided cost data for the year 2013 and cancer cases corresponding to the year 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified an almost threefold variation in the average cost per case (77,932 to 214,082 Colombian pesos or US $41 to US $113 in 2013) across the registries, but there were also substantial differences in data collection approaches, types of data collected, and activities performed. Cost per inhabitant varied between 95 and 415 Colombian pesos (US $0.05 to US $0.22). Between 20% and 45% of the total cost was due to fixed cost activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The detailed economic information presented in this study constitutes a valuable source of activity-based cost data that registries can use to compare operations, assess key factors that lead to differences in cost per case, and identify potential approaches to improve efficiencies. Furthermore, the knowledge gained from studying the Colombian registries can help inform the planning and operations of other registries in the region.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Surveillance Group, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Bogotá, Colombia; Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.affiliation: Cancer Surveillance Group, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Constanza
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pardo
authors.affiliation: Manizales Cancer Registry, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.affiliation: Cali Cancer Registry, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Luis Eduardo
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Bravo
authors.affiliation: Barranquilla Cancer Registry, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia.
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga Cancer Registry, Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Floridablanca, Colombia.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uribe
authors.affiliation: Pasto Cancer Registry, Universidad de Nariño, Pasto, Colombia.
authors.forename: María Clara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Yepez
authors.affiliation: Pasto Cancer Registry, Universidad de Nariño, Pasto, Colombia.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jurado
authors.affiliation: Cali Cancer Registry, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Luz Stella
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Garci
authors.affiliation: Cancer Surveillance Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piñeros
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Maggie Cole
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Beebe
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DCPC, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, Mailstop K-76, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: fbt9@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tangka
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Sujha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subramanian
mesh_terms: D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries
keywords: Cancer registry; Colombia; Cost; Evaluation