SIMS ELECTED TO NCQA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
County Executive of King County in Washington State, Founding Chair of Puget Sound Health Alliance Joins NCQA Board
WASHINGTON—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced today that Ron Sims has been elected to its Board of Directors. As the County Executive in King County, Washington, Sims has tackled health care reforms with innovative approaches that have become national models. His work includes founding the Puget Sound Health Alliance, where the Seattle region’s top corporations, health care providers and governments are working together to control costs while increasing the quality of health care.
In his three terms as County Executive, Sims has advocated for innovative solutions to move the county and its people forward. His efforts to ensure the county delivers high quality service have made King County an example of government performance management. He has led efforts to control employee benefit costs with an emphasis on wellness, producing dramatic results. Despite an aging workforce, there has been marked improvement in employee health in 12 out of 14 measures.
“Ron’s passion and vision for implementing forward-thinking initiatives to serve the people makes him an invaluable addition to our Board,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “I look forward to working with Ron as we continue to take bold steps to improve health care quality.”
NCQA’s 16-member Board plays a key role in setting the organization’s agenda and oversees its work and programs. The group comprises influential individuals from across the country representing employers, consumer groups, health care organization, academia and the public sector.
Sims was elected to the King County Council in 1985 and was elected King County Executive in 1996. He is charged with overseeing the largest county in the United States; King County includes the city of Seattle and has an overall population of 1.8 million.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.
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2008 NCQA Board of Directors
Robert J. Margolis, M.D. (Chair) – HealthCare Partners Medical Group
John Tooker, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P. (Chair-elect) – American College of Physicians
David F. Durenberger – National Institute of Health Policy
Robert S. Galvin, M.D. – General Electric Company
Elizabeth Gilbertson – H.E.R.E.I.U. Welfare Fund
William Goss – Cain Brothers
Glenn M. Hackbarth, J.D. – Independent Consultant
Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D. – Tufts School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
Peter V. Lee, J.D. – Pacific Business Group on Health
Dolores Mitchell – Group Insurance Commission, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Ralph W. Muller – University of Pennsylvania Health System
Debra Ness – National Partnership of Women and Families
Joseph Newhouse, Ph.D – Harvard University
Margaret E. O’Kane – National Committee for Quality Assurance
Ron Sims – County Executive, King County, Washington State
Ellen Stovall – National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship
I. Steven Udvarhelyi, M.D. – Independence Blue Cross