International Participation in NQMBC
NQMBC™ program chair, Dr. Cary Kaufman and the NQMBC Quality Committee invite all facilities providing health and cancer care to consider measuring the care they provide to their patients. This program will allow you to track your center’s quality performance data and allows you to compare your performance with other participants. If you've not already done so, take a moment to read our program chair's special invitation below!
Dear Breast Health Care Facility,
The National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC) invites breast centers from across the globe to participate in its National Quality Measures for Breast Centers™ program (NQMBC). Launched in April of 2005, the NQMBC program offers facilities providing breast health care the ability to track and measure quality performance in more than 40 individual quality indicators. The most compelling component of this program is the ability of participants to enter their own data and immediately compare their performance on these measures with other participating breast centers. Current participants use these comparison reports to identify where quality care already exists and where improvement opportunities may be found. Your NCBC facility membership allows you to participate in the NQMBC program without any further cost.
One of our current participants contacted the NCBC office after entering her center’s data for the first time. She excitedly relayed, “I entered data for the quality measures today. I was able to immediately get all the comparison data with all of the graphs showing perfectly. I am so happy with the quality of the presentation and will present the report to our cancer committee next week. Your efforts in developing this program have been worth it, as the finished product is great!”
Participation in this program may begin at any time. Participants are not required to respond to all measures but may choose which measures they would like to complete to compare their quality performance with others. We identify 8 disciplines within breast centers and we provide multiple quality metrics for each discipline.
To support global quality improvement in breast care, the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers (NQMBC)offers two distinct participation pathways for international breast centers. These options differ significantly in verification, rigor, recognition, and credibility. The International NQMBC Award Program is designed for breast centers seeking formal quality validation, progressive recognition, and international credibility through the NQMBC framework. Award categories include International Participant, International Quality Breast Center, and International Quality Breast Center of Excellence.
NQMBC International Participant Program (Unverified Participation – No Awards). To encourage global engagement and awareness of quality measurement, NQMBC also offers an International Participant category. The International Participant Program is designed for breast centers seeking internal recognition that quality care in their breast center is important. This may be confirmed by a one-sided participation in the NQMBC framework. There's no confirmation by NQMBC that this level of participation is verified. The NCBC will officially recognize each qualified participant as an International Participant in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers™. This recognition will be executed after data is submitted for 40% of the measures for international facilities.
We are excited to add your center to the growing list of international facilities interested in performing high-quality breast care. Our goal is to recognize those dedicated programs that strive for high-quality care for their patients.
Sincere Regards,
International NQMBC Committee
Comparison Report Examples
Sample View of Imaging Quality Measure 4 - Surgical Timeliness of Care (Time Between First Positive Needle Biopsy and Initial Breast Cancer Surgery©)
Average number (#) of business days from first positive needle breast biopsy to date of initial breast cancer surgery (either lumpectomy or mastectomy).
- Example of Aggregate Comparison Report
- Example of Time Lapse Comparison Report
Click here to see the current measures
How to Apply:
Step One: The NQMBC considers all International Participants as Medical Facilities. To participate in the NQMBC, you must be a member of the NCBC. If you're not an NCBC member already, join the National Consortium of Breast Centers as a Medical Facility.
As you can see from above, there are two levels of participation in the International NQMBC Quality Program. There is the International NQMBC Award Program (verified participation with awards) and the NQMBC International Participant Program (Unverified Participation – No Awards)
Step Two: Complete and submit the NQMBC International Participation Application form. This form collects the information needed to set up your NQMBC account and will be used to send more detailed participation information to you. Once the form is received by NQMBC staff, you will be contacted to verify information and will then receive a login and password for NQMBC. By completing this form, you are under no obligation to participate. If there are any questions, please contact Aerial at aerial@breastcare.org