UCCI's Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center Recognized for Excellence by National Program

Cincinnati—The University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute’s Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center has been recognized as a "Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence” in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers (NQMBC) Program—the highest distinction for excellence given by the NQMBC.

This is the only program in the city and Tristate and only one of 42 centers nationally to gain this distinction.

"This honor truly speaks to the medical excellence present at the UC Cancer Institute and the quality care delivered by breast cancer specialists within our institution,” says Elyse Lower, MD, director of the UCCI Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center and a professor in the division of hematology oncology at the UC College of Medicine.

The NQMBC Program is a model for breast centers to track and measure quality performance in more than 30 separate quality indicators and identifies quality care measures, providing immediate access to information that allows participating breast centers to compare performance with other centers across the United States.

The NQMBC Program is under the umbrella of the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC)—aimed at increasing the quality of breast health care provided by professionals to their patients.

To gain this certification, the center had to supply data for 90 percent of the measures for which its quality breast center type is able to measure performance—such as breast imaging, surgical timeliness of care, mammography call back rates, hormone and chemotherapy usage, radiation administration, breast reconstruction outcomes and patient satisfaction survey response rates. This data spans two consecutive collection periods of six months each.

In addition to completing 90 percent of the measures, the center must have performed above the 25th percentile on 90 percent of the measures specified.

The NCBC then chooses six additional specific measures, and the center re-submits data on those designated metrics—three of which must be submitted in the first data collection period and three in the second data collection period.

"We are so pleased to have received this distinction, as the ability to provide superb integrative breast care to the Tristate region requires a dedicated and certified team of breast cancer experts. This national accreditation is the result of the extensive efforts of our UCCI multidisciplinary specialized clinical team,” Lower adds. "This national award is a cornerstone step as we integrate the services of clinical care, clinical investigation and basic research in the UCCI Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center.”

Members of the center who were involved in gaining this distinction include Lower, MD; Mary Mahoney, MD; Amy Argus, MD; Su-Ju Lee, MD; Virginia Molleran, MD; Elizabeth Shaughnessy, MD, PhD; Jaime Lewis, MD; Kelly McLean, MD; Michael Edwards, MD; Mahmoud Charif, MD; Neetu Radhakrishnan MD; Bradley Huth, MD; Minh-Doan Nguyen,MD, PhD;  and Shagufta Kahn, MD, along with genetic counselors, patient navigator, nursing and clinical support.