Guide to Quality Breast Cancer Care | How NBCC Developed the Quality Care Core Values and this Guide

How NBCC Developed the Quality Care Core Values and this Guide

NBCCF's Guide to Quality Breast Cancer Care is a project of its Quality Care Initiative. The initiative began in January 1999. The first goal was to describe a vision of Quality Breast Cancer Care. That vision is built around six core values: Access, Information, Choice, Respect, Accountability, and Improvement. NBCCF believes that these values make up the essence of quality care.

The next goal was to write this guide for breast cancer patients. The guide is meant to help patients to:

judge the quality of their health care,
understand medical evidence, and
find and get the highest quality care there is.

We designed the guide to be easy to read, and interesting to look at. NBCCF worked on the guide very closely with its Quality Care Advisory Committee. The committee brought many different points of view to this project. It included:

breast cancer survivors and activists,
health caregivers, including primary care doctors, surgeons, oncologists, and radiologists,
experts on health care laws,
researchers,
support and community group leaders, and
adult education experts.

The guide was also reviewed by NBCCF's Board of Directors, staff, field coordinators, and others.

NBCCF is grateful to everyone who helped with the guide.

2002 NBCCF Quality Care Advisory Committee

Sherry Abraham, Women First, Belden, MS

John Zaven Ayanian, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Christine Brunswick, Vice President, National Breast Cancer Coalition, Washington, DC

Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, Director, Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD

Sara Collina, JD, Senior Policy Analyst, National Breast Cancer Coalition, Washington, DC

Kay Dickersin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Community Health, Brown University, Providence, RI

Arlyne Draper, President, California Breast Cancer Organizations, San Diego, CA

Silvia C. Formenti, MD, Professor & Chairman, Department of Radiation Oncology, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY

Patricia A. Ganz, MD, Professor, Schools of Medicine and Public Health, UCLA & Director, Division of cancer Prevention and Control Research, Jonsson Comprehensive cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA

Anne Grant, SHARE, New York, NY

Collette Hain, MPP, Project Manager, National Breast Cancer Coalition, Washington, DC

Joanne Howes, Partner, DDB Bass & Howes, Washington, DC

Cassandra Iverson, Women of Color Breast Cancer Survivors Support Program, Los Angeles, CA

Susan Kutner, MD, Chief of Surgery, Kaiser Permanente San Jose, San Jose, CA

Joseph Lipscomb, PhD, Chief, Outcomes Research Section, Division of cancer Control and Population Sciences, National cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD

Beth McGlynn, PhD, The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA

Michael P. Massagli, PhD, Research Consultant, Cambridge, MA

Carol Matyka, Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, Dorchester, MA

Molly Mead, PhD, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Cindy Pearson, Executive Director, National Women's Health Network, Washington, DC

Diana B. Petitti, MD, MPH, Director, Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente, Pasadena, CA

Jan Platner, JD, Chief Program Officer, National Breast Cancer Coalition, Washington, DC

Sylvia Rickard, Breast Cancer Coalition of Utah, Sandy, UT

Jerome Seidenfeld, PhD, Associate Director, Technology Evaluation Center, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Chicago, IL

Stephen H. Taplin, MD, MPH, Associate Director, Preventive Care Research, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, WA

Vicki Tosher, President, Sense of Security, Inc., Broomfield, CO

Fran Visco, JD, President, National Breast Cancer Coalition, Washington, DC

2006 NBCCF Guide to Quality Breast Cancer Care 3rd Edition External Reviewers

Judi Hirschfield-Bartek, RN, MS, OCN, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

Richard Michaelson, MD, Saint Barnabas Health Care System, Livingston, NJ

Susan Troyan, MD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

NBCCF Quality Care Initiative Staff:

Giselle Hicks, MPH, Programs Analyst

Annette Bar-Cohen, MA, MPH, Director of Programs

The Board of Directors of the National Breast Cancer Coalition/Fund is made up of representatives from these groups:

Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline and Support Program--New York

African-American Women in Touch--Indiana

Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation--Texas

Breast Cancer Alliance of Greater Cincinnati--Ohio

California Breast Cancer Organization--California

Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, Inc.--Delaware

Georgia Breast Cancer Coalition Fund--Georgia

Kentucky Cancer Program--Kentucky

Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation--Pennsylvania

The Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer--Washington, DC

Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Chapter of NBCC--Washington, DC

Minnesota Breast Cancer Coalition--Minnesota

National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund--Washington, DC

National Women's Health Network--Washington, DC

Nueva Vida--Washington, DC

Revlon Breast Center, UCLA Oncology Services--California

Rhode Island Breast Cancer Coalition--Rhode Island

SHARE--New York

Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation--California

Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation--Virginia

Women of Color Breast Cancer Survivors' Support Project--California

Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization--Illinois

Young Survival Coalition--New York

NBCCF's Network--NBCCF has a national network of breast cancer advocates led by NBCCF's field coordinators. NBCCF's advocates have a lot of information about breast cancer care. Often, you can find the most helpful information right in your area. To see if there is an NBCCF field coordinator near you, please call NBCCF at 1-800-622-2838.