The NAPBC makes a visit to the center with a surveyor. The surveyor will look at the interdisciplinary conference, examine all the structural details of the center, and review 20 breast cancer charts and 5 benign charts. They will interview and meet the principals of the breast center and discuss their review. The survey lasts one day and is repeated once every three years.

The NQMBC™ is an Internet web-based data submission program. After an affidavit is signed by the breast center director and the data manager, answers to the quality questions on the website may be submitted. For any question that the breast center submits an answer, an immediate comparison result is available in numeric and graph forms. The center may immediately see how they compare with all centers and with centers that are similar to their location, their volume or their patient mix or geographic location. Answers to each question usually require one month's data to be entered and centers are required to submit data at least once a year to maintain certification. Because quality of care is a continually moving process, each answer is compared to those answers provided during that time period. The quality indicators were created, based upon research performed by the Health Care Advisory Board (Oncology Round Table) based in DC, the NQF and a hard working comprehensive panel of specialists from the NCBC.

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