Governance
NCQA is governed by an independent Board of Directors. The Board is comprised of fifteen members plus the President of the Organization. The Board Chair is an independent director who serves a term of three years as Chair. There are no seats on the NCQA Board reserved for specific stakeholders. Rather, Board composition is structured to include many competencies and a multi-stakeholder model including representatives from employers, physicians, public policy experts, consumer groups and health systems, all of which are instrumental in enabling NCQA to achieve its mission.
The current Board is comprised of the following individuals:
Robert J. Margolis, M.D. (Chair)
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner, Healthcare Partners Medical Group
Senator David F. Durenberger
Chair and Chief Executive Officer, National Institute of Health Policy
Robert S. Galvin, M.D.
Director, Global Healthcare, General Electric Company
Elizabeth Gilbertson
President, H.E.R.E.I.U. Welfare Fund
William J. Goss
Managing Director, Cain Brothers
Glenn M. Hackbarth, J.D.
Independent Consultant
Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D.
Distinguished Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine
Peter V. Lee, J.D.
Executive Director for National Health Policy, Pacific Business Group on Health
Dolores L. Mitchell
Executive Director, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission
Ralph W. Muller
Chief Executive Officer, University of Pennsylvania Health System
Debra L. Ness
President, National Partnership for Women and Families
Joseph Newhouse, Ph.D.
John D. MacArthur Professor, Harvard University
Margaret E. O’Kane
President, National Committee for Quality Assurance
Ellen Stovall
President, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
John Tooker, M.D., MBA, FACP
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, American College of Physicians
I. Steven Udvarhelyi, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer, Independence Blue Cross
Board Subcommittees
There are four subcommittees of NCQA’s Board. Board committees generally meet four times a year or as needed. The primary function of each committee is briefly described below.
Executive and Compensation Committee
Acts on behalf of the Board as needed in between meetings. This Committee is also responsible for evaluating the performance of the President of the organization and approving the compensation for the President and corporate officers.
Governance Committee
Responsible for establishing and implementing governance policies for the organization. This Committee is also responsible for recruiting new directors, evaluating the performance of existing directors, Board succession planning and establishment of Board meeting agendas.
Finance and Audit Committee
Responsible for establishing and overseeing financial policies governing the organization. The Committee also oversees the annual budget and operating results and recommends adoption of final operating and capital budgets to the Board. The organization’s audit firm reports to the Finance and Audit Committee, which recommends approval of the audited financials to the Board.
Fundraising Committee
Responsible for overseeing the fundraising and corporate sponsorship policies. This Committee assists NCQA in diversifying its funding base and reviews NCQA’s annual fundraising case statement.
Managing Conflicts of Interest
NCQA’s multi-stakeholder model is also key to ensuring that any potential biases are balanced by differing and often opposing views on the Board. In addition, NCQA is committed to ensuring that decisions that impact the organization are made without undue influence or conflict of interest. To achieve that end, NCQA utilizes strict conflict of interest disclosure and conflict management policies for its Board and NCQA’s expert panels. The policies and procedures used to manage conflicts are available through the following links:
Development of Products and Public Comment
As part of its product development process, NCQA puts proposed standards and quality performance measures out for public comment. This enables NCQA to consider relevant input from all stakeholders before NCQA finalizes standards and quality performance measures. Notice of public comment is posted on NCQA’s Web site and typically lasts thirty days.