Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program
We are pleased to announce the American Society of Breast Surgeons Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program, a Continuous Quality Improvement Initiative, is now open for data collection and case submission.
The goal of the American Society of Breast Surgeons (Society) in establishing certification and educational programs is to improve the quality of care for patients with breast disease. The Society encourages the education and training for surgeons who have an interest in improving the quality of and the delivery of breast care in their practice. The Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program is based on the need for ongoing quality improvement in the practice of breast surgery. This program was developed in response to the urgent need to document quality outcomes in patient care, and for individual surgeons to know and be able to report their performance. The goal of this program is to provide you with the tools to meet this challenge. This is a voluntary self-reporting system, open to all surgeons regardless of practice setting, to report on open breast surgical procedures for both benign and malignant disease.
how do I participate?
To participate in the Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program, you must complete an application form and enter data on your cases using the Society’s data software program. Click here to complete the application and provide the required documentation and AMA/PRA category 1 CME credits. The program requires that you submit data for at least three months from registration in the program on all of your open breast surgical cases, benign or malignant. Both parts of the program, the application and the data submission, must be successfully completed after which you will receive a Certificate of Participation in the Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program. It is expected that you will participate on a continuing basis by entering data on all of your cases.
You will be expected to enter data for a minimum of three months on three quality measures for all breast surgical cases in your practice. The quality measures are:
- Was a needle biopsy performed to evaluate the breast lesion at some time prior to this procedure?
- Was the surgical specimen oriented?
- Was there intra-operative confirmation of removal of the targeted lesion?
Your data will be regarded as strictly confidential and can only be viewed by you under the program. You will be able to compare your data with the entire group, or with surgeons who are similar to you in terms of practice type and location. Only the de-identified data will be available to the Society staff and appropriate Committee and Board members. The Society will not make individual surgeon data available to the public, insurance companies, advocacy groups, credentialing bodies, or any other interested parties except in strict accordance with the Business Associate Agreement that you must sign to participate in the program. You should note, however, that the Society cannot guarantee that it will not be forced to release data, including individual surgeon data, requested under the compulsion of a legally enforceable subpoena, search warrant, or court order.
This is a continuous quality improvement program in that surgeons will be required to participate in continuous data collection on an annual basis in order to maintain their standing in the program. The program is expected to grow over time; with the addition of new quality measures and the development of more sophisticated reporting tools. Click here for additional background information on the program including frequently asked questions.
At this time, members of the Society may enroll in the pilot program at no cost. If you would like to participate in the Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program click on the registration box at the top of the page and complete the brief registration form. You will be sent a username and password within one business day. We hope that you will choose to participate in this important quality initiative and hope that you find it simple and easy to use. Your participation, comments and feedback are vital to its success. If you have any questions, please contact the Mastery of Breast Surgery Committee of the American Society of Breast Surgeons at mastery@breastsurgeons.org.
