Dear Breast Health Care Facility,
The National Consortium of Breast Centers invites breast centers from across the United States to participate in its National Quality Measures for Breast Centers™ Program (NQMBC™). Released in April of 2007, the NQMBC™ program offers facilities providing breast health care the ability to track and measure quality performance in more than 30 separate quality indicators. The most impressive component of this program is the ability of participants to enter data and immediately compare their performance on these measures with other participating breast centers around the country. Current participants use these comparison reports to identify where quality care already exists and where quality care improvements can be made.
One of our current participants just recently contacted the NCBC office after entering her center's data for the first time, "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 in order to compare their quality performance on these measures with others. Data on each measure may be provided at any time and may begin with 2005 data points.
As a vital part of the NQMBC™ Program, the NCBC will officially recognize each participant in this program as a Certified Participant in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers™. This designation will grant eligibility to become a Certified Quality Breast Center™ and ultimately a Certified Breast Center of Excellence™. Watch for more information on these certifications and NQMBC™ updates on the NCBC web site www.breastcare.org. More detailed information about the NQMBC™ Program can also be found on the NQMBC™ Program's website www.nqmbc.org.
We look forward to adding your center as a Certified Participant in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers™ Program to this growing list of breast centers dedicated to providing quality care for their patients.
F. Lee Tucker, MD, FCAP
Virginia Biomedical Laboratories, LLC
Quality Initiative Chairman, National Consortium of Breast Centers, Inc.
Cary S. Kaufman, MD, FACS
Bellingham Breast Center
Past President, National Consortium of Breast Centers, Inc.
