International Overview

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 track your center’s quality performance data and allows each participant to compare their 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 30 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 exist.  Your NCBC facility membership allows you to participate in the NQMBC program without 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. 

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. This certification 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 as a Certified Participant in the NQMBC program.  Our goal is to recognize those dedicated programs that provide quality care for their patients.

Sincere Regards, 
NQMBC COMMITTEE

Aggregate Comparison Report Examples

Sample View of Measure 2 - Mammography Call-Back Rate

Percent (%) of patients called back for follow-up for additional mammography film studies of a screening program.  The numerator is the number of cases called back*  for diagnostic evaluation following screening mammogram.  The denominator is the total number of screening mammograms one. (Use one month’s data.)

* “called back” is not literal, in that the patient left the center. This just means that they required additional views.

Clink here to see the current measures

Step One: If you're not a NCBC member already, join the National Consortium of Breast Centers as a Medical Facility.  As of June 2014, a NCBC facility membership is required to participate in the NQMBC program. 

International discounts for Direct Provider memberships (Individual Non -Physician, Individual Physician and Facility) are available to middle and low-income countries as defined by the World Bank.

Citizens of middle-income countries – 50% discount

Citizens of low-income countries – 75% discount

To determine if you qualify for financial assistance, please check the World Bank's country classification list. Applicants qualifying for the discount should email wendy@breastcare.org to get discount code.
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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. By completing this form, you are under no obligation to participate.  

Step Three: Apply for Certification
After your have supplied data at for at least 40% of the measures for which your quality breast center should be able to measure performance, we encourage you to apply for the initial certification level of a Certified Participant™.  You will be listed on our Certified Facilities page and will be eligible in one year to apply for the next level of certification, Certified Quality Breast Center™.