In the first re-certification process, six months after the screening unit has started its work and commissioned by the Association of Health Fund Physicians responsible, the focus is primarily on the structural and organisational processes at the screening unit. There is a check to see whether the concept on which the certification was carried out has been implemented.
The regular re-certifications are carried out at intervals of 30 months after adoption of the screening mandate in the screening region. The aim of regular re-certifications is to check to see whether the high quality of standards prescribed are being complied with, and to detect and rectify any problems regarding quality. These regular re-certifications in the screening unit thus take a close look at three dimensions of quality in the programme: structures, processes and results in the unit.
How exactly the re-certification is carried out is recorded in the so-called "Protokoll zur Durchführung von Rezertifizierungen" (Protocol on Conducting Re-Certifications), which the Advisory Board of the Cooperative Association of Mammography Screening has approved and published.