Canada: an external quality review process--the Wellspring model.

: Wellspring is a group of cancer support centers in Ontario, Canada. The centers provide information, support, and coping-skills programs for people with cancer and their families. To ascertain that all centers provide the same high quality of programs, the board at Wellspring established a panel of external oncology experts and asked them to establish a process to review program quality in each center. This article outlines the process undertaken to provide quality improvement in a nonprofit charitable organization.