Smaller Larger

Breast Cancer Care at BIDMC

One in eight women will develop a breast cancer in their lifetime, and the number of women undergoing annual screening, diagnostic imaging, biopsy, and receiving cancer treatment has grown significantly.

Consequently, the number of comprehensive breast care centers has grown throughout the country. However, only recently have national standards of care and performance benchmarks been established to ensure that patients receive the best, evidence-based medical care that leads to the best results.

The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), a part of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons - sets national standards for Breast Care Centers. This independent organization evaluates the quality of care in breast programs by looking at key quality measures and only awards certification if these standards are met. The Breast Care Center at BIDMC has received full, three-year accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, and is the first breast center at a Boston academic medical center to achieve this status.

BIDMC also participates in the Commission on Cancer's efforts to monitor the quality of cancer care in partnership with the National Quality Forum.

Breast Cancer Care: Performance Summary

Each year over 600 patients are treated for breast cancer at BIDMC. Presented below is BIDMC's performance on key quality measures important to patients, compared to national performance benchmarks. BIDMC believes in transparency. We believe we provide quality care and are proud to show the data to support this.

For more information about each measure and its benchmark, click on the name of the measure.

Access to Care & Patient Experience

Access to Care	BIDMC Performance Q1 FY 12	National Database Q1 FY 12
% Of new patients seen in the Breast Center within 14 days of their request for a non-urgent care appointment A higher score is better.	59%	75%

¹ BIDMC Performance data is from Administrative Databases. BIDMC Goal reflects Breast Care Center desired performance.

Patient Care Experience ³ (A higher score is better)	BIDMC Performance Q1 FY 12	National Database Q1 FY 12
Visit Experience	63%	52%
Experience with Care Provider	88%	77%
Care Providers Efforts to Include Patients in Care Decisions	87%	76%
Sensitivity to Personal Needs & Concerns	86%	73%
Likelihood to Recommend BIDMC for Outpatient Breast Cancer Care	89%	78%

² Source of comparison data: Press Ganey National Database Participants (n=1853 sites) and Press Ganey Custom Comparative Database Participants (n=10 sites)

Performance on Recommended Care Guidelines for Breast Cancer Care

NATIONAL Accreditation Program for Breast Centers Performance Measures	BIDMC PERFORMANCE CY 2009 ³	BIDMC PERFORMANCE CY 2010 ³	NAPBC BENCHMARK ⁴
Breast Conservation Rate (Stages 0-2) A higher score is better.	69%	61%	50%
Needle Biopsy Rate (Palpation or Image guided) A higher score is better.	84%	82%	100%
Clinical Trial Accrual Rate (All eligible breast cancer patients) A higher score is better.	43%	18%	> 2%

³ Source of BIDMC data is BIDMC Tumor Registry
⁴ Source of benchmark data is the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, Accreditation Standards Goal Performance.

NATIONAL QUALITY FORUM MEASURES FOR BREAST CANCER CARE ⁶	BIDMC PERFORMANCE CY 2008 ³	NATIONAL AVG FOR TEACHING HOSPITAL CANCER PROGRAMS	NATIONAL AVG FOR ALL COMISSION ON CANCER APPROVED PROGRAMS
Radiation therapy is administered within 1 year of diagnosis for women under age 70 who are receiving breast conserving surgery for breast cancer A higher score is better.	95.2%	85.6%	87.3%
Combination chemotherapy is considered or administered within 4 months of diagnosis for women under age 70 with Stage 2 or 3 Hormone Receptor Negative (HR-) breast cancer A higher score is better.	100%	84.8%	87.4%
Tamoxifen or third generation aromatase inhibitor is considered or administered within 1 year of diagnosis for women with Stage 2 or 3 Hormone Receptor Positive (HR+) breast cancer A higher score is better.	98.6%	78.8%	86.1%

⁶ BIDMC, and National Average performance for Teaching Hospital Cancer Programs benchmark performance data provided by the NCDB and the American College of Surgeons, Cancer program Practice Profile report (CP3R)©: For Breast Cancers, 2004-2008 Diagnoses. Information provided with permission.

Breast Cancer Outcomes: 5-year Survival Rates

For Breast Cancer Patients initially diagnosed between 2003-2004, survival through 2009 (by Cancer Stage at time of diagnosis.). Learn more about 5-year Observed Survival Rates.

5-YEAR OBSERVED SURVIVAL RATES BY STAGE (7)	BIDMC PERFORMANCE ⁷	NATIONAL Performance for All Approved Commission on Cancer PROGRAMS ⁷
Stage 0	98.8%	95.6%
Stage 1	95.6%	92.1%
Stage 2	92.8%	85.2%
Stage 3	75.7%	66.0%
Stage 4	Data not available ⁸	21.9%

⁷ BIDMC Performance, and National Performance for All Approved Commission on Cancer Programs provided by the NCDB and the American College of Surgeons, for Breast Cancer Patients diagnosed between 2003-2004 Diagnoses, survival through 2009. Information provided with permission.
⁸ BIDMC Performance for Stage IV 5 year Observed Survival is not calculated by the NCDB, because the number of Stage IV cases is less than 30, and thus would not be statistically valid.

Last Updated: March 8, 2012

Contact Information

Silverman Institute for Health Care Quality and Safety
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
330 Brookline Ave
Boston, MA 02215
617-667-1325