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Date: Sunday, May 12, 1995
Contact: Sharon Snider, FDA (301) 443-3285

The service will list all facilities that have been certified by the Food and Drug Administration as capable of providing quality mammograms. Their names and locations are available by calling the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), a toll-free number of the National Cancer Institute. The service operates each weekday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.

The information service is part of FDA's implementation of the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992, which seeks to enhance the chances for early detection of breast cancer -- and, therefore, for early treatment and survival -- by ensuring that all mammography facilities provide high quality mammograms. To date, nearly 8,700 of approximately 10,300 facilities have been fully certified by FDA, and 1,600 have been provisionally certified while undergoing accreditation review.

Secretary Shalala said, "Women need to know that uniform and high quality standards are becoming a reality at practically all facilities that perform mammography in this country -- whether in a hospital, a doctor's office, a mobile van, or on a military base." FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler, M.D., said, "At these certified facilities, women can be sure that their mammograms are as good as qualified professionals and appropriate equipment can make them."

Philip R. Lee, M.D., HHS assistant secretary for health and director of the Public Health Service, said, "Largely as a result of early detection, through breast exams and mammography, more women today are being cured through breast-conserving treatment and getting on with their active, productive lives. Now, with this service, women will be able to get the names of quality mammography facilities in their immediate neighborhoods."

Under MQSA, mammography facilities must be accredited by an FDA-approved accreditation body, be certified by FDA, and must prominently display the certificate issued by the agency.

Requirements for certification include:

• radiologic technologists who perform mammography, physicians who interpret mammograms and medical physicists who survey equipment must have adequate training and experience;

• each facility must have an effective quality control program and maintain certain records;

• each facility must have a system to track mammograms that reveal a potential problem and to obtain biopsy results; and

• each facility must be inspected annually by FDA-trained inspectors to ensure safe and effective mammography.

Note: This service is available in Spanish and will soon also be available for the hearing impaired.