ACR Designated Comprehensive Breast Imaging Center (CBIC)(Revised 9-29-23)

Revision History

The American College of Radiology recognizes breast imaging centers that achieve excellence by seeking and earning accreditation in all of the ACR’s voluntary breast imaging accreditation programs and modules in addition to the mandatory Mammography Accreditation Program by providing them a certificate that identifies them as a Comprehensive Breast Imaging Center (CBIC). The ACR will award the designation and one certificate at no additional fee to a center to acknowledge their dedication to improving women’s health by participating in these rigorous quality assurance programs. All CBIC facilities will be identified by the symbol shown above on the ACR’s Accredited Facility Search page.

Benefits of CBIC designation include:

• Comprehensive assessment of the medical imaging facility, including structure and outcomes

• Ongoing process for self-assessment

• Recognition that distinguishes your facility to providers, payers, patients and administrators

• Customizable materials for local public relations and marketing

In order to receive the ACR’s CBIC designation, a center must be fully ACR accredited in:

• Mammography 

• Stereotactic Breast Biopsy 

• Breast Ultrasound by the ACR (including the Ultrasound-Guided Breast Biopsy module), and

• MRI accreditation in the breast module. (Effective November 2022, breast MRI is now a module under MRI accreditation)

• Centers may also satisfy these requirements if they refer their patients to another facility for breast imaging outside their center. This facility must be accredited by the ACR and may be within their facility system or in a referral relationship.

The ACR is the leader in quality programs for breast imaging. As such, it is developing new initiatives to stay current with the science and technology that drive radiology practice as well as the clinical needs of the profession. In the future, centers may need to meet more rigorous requirements, such as performing expanded audits to maintain their CBIC designations.

Certificates

The ACR will send a CBIC certificate to each center which fulfills the above requirements. A center’s CBIC designation will remain in effect as long as all of its breast imaging facilities (whether they are at the center’s home location or at a different location) remain accredited in all required breast imaging services provided. If the center neglects to renew any of its accreditations or fails during renewal, the ACR will notify the center that it no longer has the CBIC designation and that the ACR CBIC certificate must be removed from public display.

In most cases, centers will not need to complete any forms to receive a certificate. The ACR will consult its database and automatically provide an eligible center a CBIC certificate if a center is at a single physical location and its:

• Mammography facility is accredited by the ACR, and

• Mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound, and breast MRI facilities are accredited under the exact same name

Some centers will need to specifically request a CBIC designation. The ACR has no way of identifying a breast imaging center’s affiliated facilities if they have different names or are located at different physical locations. These eligible centers must complete a CBIC Request Form in order to receive a certificate. The request form must be signed by an authorized user of the mammography facility. Furthermore, centers must notify the ACR if imaging locations are no longer affiliated with the center.

How to Obtain Comprehensive Breast Imaging Center Certificates

The ACR will send one CBIC certificate to the lead interpreting physician for the center’s mammography facility. Centers may obtain additional certificates for affiliated facilities or replacement certificates for a small fee.

National Mammography Database 

Facilities achieving and maintaining the CBIC designation are invited to participate in the ACR National Mammography Database (NMD). Participation in NMD allows facilities to:

• Benchmark practice performance

• Compare processes and outcomes to similar practices nationwide

• Meet and exceed the FDA’s audit data collection requirements

• Target specific areas for attention and implement successful quality improvement programs

• Meet criteria for practice quality improvement (PQI) to fulfill ABR Maintenance of Certification Program requirements

• Receive reports every six months

• Participate in free webinars to

  • Discuss how to interpret the data

  • Share ideas with other NMD participants on how to use the data for practice improvement

• Choose what data points are included with their participation. Many data points uploaded to NMD are optional.

To register with the National Mammography Database:

• Visit the National Radiology Data Registry

• Click NMD

• Click “New Facility Registration”

Additional Information 

Visit the ACR’s accreditation website for request forms and further information on the Comprehensive Breast Imaging Centers of Excellence as well as information on all of the ACR’s accreditation programs.

To contact the ACR Breast Imaging Accreditation office by phone, dial (800) 227-6440.

For more information on the National Mammography Database, email [email protected] or call 1-800-227-5463, extension 3535