National Mammography Database (NMD) Start-up Guide Introduction
Welcome to the American College of Radiology’s® (ACR’s®) National Mammography Database® (NMD®) Registry! We hope this step-by-step Start-up Guide helps you to get underway with submitting your data and to obtain the most value out of your registry participation.
The NMD is one of six registries that comprise the National Radiology Data Registry (NRDR) and the NRDR team welcomes suggestions for how we can improve this guide, your overall experience with NMD Registry start up and ongoing participation. Please send your suggestions and comments to NRDRSupport@acr.org.
The NMD Features Knowledge Base article provides the rationale for NMD participation. Also, hear about the benefits of NMD participation from NMD Committee Chair Lars Grimm, MD. View the video.
Steps to Get Started
1. Assemble Your Team
Bringing together a team comprised of individuals who can contribute varied expertise will help ensure a seamless launch and continued operation of the NMD Registry at your institution. Examples of potential roles are briefly described below.
Physician Champion: reviews NMD reports and works with staff to prioritize quality improvement initiatives.
NRDR Administrator(s): manages accounts and assigns NRDR user roles as described in the following NRDR Knowledge Base articles. If your facility participates in another NRDR registry, your NRDR corporate administrator or facility administrator can help with the set up.
Data Coordinator(s): uploads files to the NMD and ensures that the data files have been successfully submitted. They have access to medical records for updating records. This may be a technologist or an individual with the role of Registry Administrator.
2. Complete the Application Process and Create an NRDR Account
Facilities new to NRDR wishing to participate in the NMD Registry must complete the application process. NRDR Knowledge Base articles provide step-by-step instructions.
Note: If a facility already has an NRDR account, only an addendum to the existing participation agreement is needed to register for the NMD. See how to add the NMD Registry to your facility registration. Facilities already participating in the Dose Index Registry (DIR) or General Radiology Improvement Database (GRID) can join the NMD Registry at no additional registry fee.
3. Get Your Team Signed Up with ACR Login
Team members who will need to access the NRDR portal to manage accounts, enter data or review performance reports will need ACR Login credentials. ACR Login enables users to enter their login credentials one time on a single page to access their ACR applications.
Certain ACR Login applications, such as NRDR, require Multifactor Authentication (MFA). MFA necessitates users entering an additional piece of information when logging in for enhanced data security, making it harder for user accounts to become compromised.
Read the Knowledge Base article ACR Login and Multifactor Authentication for more information.
4. Become Familiar with How to Submit Your Data
Check out the Knowledge Base article NMD Data Submission Overview to learn about submitting your data to the NMD. Most facilities use NMD-certified vendor software to generate a file for uploading to the NMD database (see the article Create a File Using NMD-Certified Software). However, facilities also have the option to manually populate and submit an Excel template or another file type, e.g., a text file (See the article Create a File Without Using NMD Software) or to work with local IT support or their software vendor to submit data via web-based transmission (See the article Web-based Data Submission for NMD).
Note: View the two-part video series to learn more about how NMD data can be used for facility benchmarking and quality improvement, data entry options, and tips to enhance the value of NMD participation.
Submit a ticket to NRDR Support for questions or issues getting started with data submission.
5. Review Your Reports
Review the NMD Registry Available Reports Knowledge Base article to become familiar with the reports that can help you confirm the data submitted is correctly recorded in the database and to review your facility’s performance and compare your performance with peers.
Many facilities review reports monthly or quarterly, depending upon mammography volume, to ensure data submitted is being received and to observe performance patterns over time for quality improvement purposes.
6. Readiness Checklist
Readiness Checklist for Participation in the ACR NMD Registry | |
Identify NMD Team Members | |
☐ | Physician Champion |
☐ | Data Coordinator(s) |
☐ | NRDR Administrator(s) |
For Facilities Already Participating in the NRDR | |
□ | The NMD Registry is added to your facility’s NRDR registration. (Facilities already participating in the DIR or GRID can join the NMD Registry at no additional cost.) |
For Facilities New to NRDR (Review the article Items You’ll Need to Register to carry out the items in this section.) | |
☐ | |
☐ | Create a facility account for each site that will contribute data |
☐ | Review, sign and submit the NRDR Participation Agreement and Business Associate Agreement |
☐ | |
Confirm Staff Who Require NRDR Portal Access Have Set Up an ACR Login and MFA | |
☐ | All persons who need access can successfully log in to the NRDR portal |
Choose a Data Submission Method (select ONE of the below) and Enter Data | |
☐ | NMD Data File Upload using NMD Certified Software |
☐ | NMD Data File Upload using an Excel or other file |
☐ | Web-based Data Transmission |
☐ | Develop a plan for who retrieves and reviews the reports and the frequency of review. |