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.
The NCBC will officially recognize each qualified participant as a Certified Participant in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers™. This certification will be executed after data is submitted for 40% of the measures for international facilities. Centers that demonstrate continued self-assessment can qualify for the International Quality Breast Center of Excellence Certification. These certifications will be associated with a formal certificate suitable for display in your facility. Validation of submitted data is required.
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 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.
International discounts for Medical Facility membership are available to middle and low-income countries as defined by the World Bank. Participation in NQMBC requires an NCBC Facility Membership.
- Medical Facilities of middle-income countries – 50% discount
- Medical Facilities of low-income countries – 75% discount
To determine if you are eligible for a financial discount, please check your country's classification by income on the World Bank's country classification list. To request a financial discount, contact Wendy at wendy@breastcare.org
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
Opportunity to Apply for
International Awards and Recognition:
After you have supplied data for at least 40% of the measures available to international breast centers, we encourage you to apply for International Quality Recognition Awards, which include International NQMBC Participant™, International Quality Breast Center, and International Quality Breast Center of Excellence™. You will be listed on our Recognition Facilities page, be eligible for official certificates for display, as well as other methods of quality recognition.