Home > News > Around BIDMC > BreastCare Center Recognized by National Accreditation Program For Breast Centers
BreastCare Center Recognized by National Accreditation Program For Breast Centers
First Boston academic medical center breast center to achieve status
Date: 12/13/2011
BIDMC Contact: Jerry Berger
Phone: 617-667-7308
Email: jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON – The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center BreastCare Center has received full, three-year accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, the first breast center at a Boston academic medical center to achieve this status.
NAPBC surveyor Arnold H. Herman, MD described the BreastCare Center as “a model for any large institution” and a “truly exemplary program that will hopefully start a trend in large academic centers coming forward for NAPBC accreditation.”
Full accreditation by the NAPBC – a part of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons – requires the provision of contemporary, multidisciplinary care in 17 program components while meeting 27 exacting standards.
The standards – which span areas from a center’s leadership to its research, clinical management, professional education, quality improvement, and more – were established by the NAPBC’s multidisciplinary board, which is composed of experts representing the disciplines that work together to diagnose and treat breast diseases, says Michael D. Wertheimer, MD, Director of the BreastCare Center and Chief of Breast Surgery in the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Department of Surgery.
“This demonstrates that our BreastCare Center is a national leader in providing outstanding, multidisciplinary care for patients,” says Wertheimer.
Participation in NAPBC, a consortium of national professional organizations launched in 2008 to improve the quality of care for patients with breast diseases, is currently voluntary. The process required “opening all aspects of the BreastCare Center to critical, rigorous internal and external review and comparing them to ideal national standards,” says Wertheimer.
The accreditation process, which included a Nov. 17 site visit involved staff from: general surgery, medical oncology, radiology, radiation oncology, social work, pathology, plastic surgery, health information/medical records, health care quality, oncology nursing, and community benefits.
Herman also made special note of the weekly tumor board, which he called “superb” and commended the “unique” multidisciplinary evaluation process for new breast cancer patients and the high quality of support services, “which serve … patients in a manner that could be cloned for all to use.”
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and currently ranks third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
