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The American College of Radiology (ACR) will launch the National Mammography Database  (NMD) in July as part of the National Radiology Dose Registry, an ACR registry database warehouse for U.S. radiology facilities to compare themselves with other facilities regionally and nationally.

The NMD, which is based on the Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS), will allow mammography facilities to compare their practice performance and outcome data with practices similar to theirs. It also will help to advance the practice of mammography and implement successful quality improvement programs to improve patient care, according to the ACR.

The college said that NMD will leverage data that mammography practices are already collecting under federal mandate. Facilities can upload data to the NMD through a Web-based system that integrates with BI-RADS software partners. The data will be compiled to provide benchmarks on individual practice processes and patient outcomes, such as cancer detection rates, positive predictive values and recall rates.

Participants will receive semi-annual feedback reports that include comparisons with important medical audit benchmark data.

The NMD produces clinically meaningful mammography audits, with outcomes reported for individual radiologists and for the entire mammography facility, accompanied by comparisons with concurrent benchmark data from similar radiologists, facilities and the United States, according to Edward Sickles, MD, chair of the NMD Committee.

In addition to the NMD, NRDR also includes the National Oncology PET Registry (NOPR) and the CT Colonography Registry.