When it Comes to Breast Care, Accreditation Matters

• The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) is the premier accreditation for breast centers throughout the United States. Due to its success, the program has sparked interest from more than a dozen foreign centers that want the ability to earn NAPBC accreditation.

  Prior to 2008

  More than eight years ago, the American College of Surgeons embarked upon an effort to begin the process of accrediting breast centers around the country. I know this well, because I was invited to get involved with this process when it began and I remain very connected to the effort. The thought at the time, well before health care reform was in the news, was that if medical professionals don’t take charge of the process, some policy makers in government with no knowledge or experience would try to impose standards that didn’t make sense, and do it in a way that was inefficient.

  2015 and Beyond

  Jump forward to today: This program, known as the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) is the premier accreditation for breast centers throughout the United States. Due to its success, the program has sparked interest from more than a dozen foreign centers that want the ability to earn NAPBC accreditation.

  Improving Patient Care

  How does this affect patients? NAPBC accreditation encompasses 27 individual standards of breast care extending from benign to malignant disease. It incorporates evaluation of standards of treatment, as well as components of care including coordination of care via nurse navigation, support services, the credentials of the clinicians and nurses, and quality improvement initiatives. And this independent evaluation has been demonstrated to correlate with adherence to standard therapies and quality care.

  Fox Chase was one of the first programs to put itself up for evaluation by the NAPBC, and now having been re-accredited for the third time, we are pleased that others agree with what we so often state: patients have access to the best breast care at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Indeed, it would seem, that accreditation matters.