U.S. National Mammography Database Launched to Improve Mammography Programs

A U.S. National Mammography Database (NMD) has been initiated to allow mammography facilities to compare their practice performance and outcome data to practices similar to their own, advance the practice of mammography, and implement successful quality improvement programs to improve patient care.

NMD, which is based on BI-RADS, is the newest addition to the U.S. National Radiology Dose Registry (NRDR), a warehouse of American College of Radiology (ACR; Reston, VA, USA) registry databases that compiles data to allow radiology facilities to compare themselves to other facilities regionally and nationally according to facility type.

"The College recognized the limited access mammography facilities have to comparative information for national and regional benchmarking,” said Carl D'Orsi, M.D., FACR, chair of the committee on BI-RADS. "One of the best methods to improve life-saving early breast cancer detection is through a national approach to breast imaging, with data we can only achieve through a unified mammography database.”

The NMD will utilize data that mammography practices are already gathering under U.S. federal mandate. Facilities can quickly and easily upload their data to the NMD through a Web-based system that integrates with BI-RADS software partners. The data will be compiled to provide benchmarks on individual practice processes and patient outcomes such as cancer detection rates, positive predictive values, and recall rates.

"The NMD represents a valuable tool that will allow breast imagers to track their results in a meaningful, comprehensive way,” said Carol Lee, M.D., FACR, chair of ACR Commission on Breast Imaging. "It also affords the opportunity for us to set benchmarks and improve our performance where needed. The NMD will allow us in the breast imaging community to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to quality care.”

Participants will receive semiannual feedback reports that include comparisons with important medical audit benchmark data. "The NMD conveniently and accurately produces clinically meaningful mammography audits, with outcomes reported for individual radiologists and for the entire mammography facility, accompanied by comparisons to concurrent benchmark data from similar radiologists, facilities, and the entire U.S.” said Edward Sickles, M.D., FACR, chair of the National Mammography Database Committee.

A practice or facility that chooses to participate in the NMD can also take advantage of the other ACR registries as appropriate for the practice. When a facility joins more than one registry, the NRDR warehouse allows information to be shared across registries within the facility. In addition to the NMD, NRDR includes the following registries: National Oncology PET Registry; CT [Computed Tomography] Colonography Registry; General Radiology Improvement Database; Dose Index Registry; and IV [Intravenous] Contrast Extravasation Registry.

The ACR is a U.S. professional organization serving more than 32,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of radiology and the delivery of comprehensive healthcare services.

Related Links:
National Radiology Dose Registry
American College of Radiology