Vote Peggy: Vote for Quality
September 9, 2019 · Matt Brock
Peggy O’Kane, NCQA President, speaks at PCMH Congress 2019
Vote Peggy. It’s a vote for Quality.
NCQA’s president, Peggy O’Kane, is among hundreds of health care leaders nominated for Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare list. We wanted to tell you why it’s important to take the time, to vote and to send her to the top list.
Peggy continues to soar as an advocate for improving care. She consistently leads the way in a never-ending pursuit of better care. That’s true particularly this year as Peggy, NCQA and health information technology leaders develop new pathways for digital quality measurement.
But wait, let me first tell you how to vote for Peggy. Finding her name on the list of nominees involves an extra click or two. Modern Healthcare listed the nominations in alphabetical order, and O’Kane is, of course, in the middle of the alphabet. Voters may select five of the nominees.
So, make sure to click through to the second page to find her name. And vote. Vote Peggy!
Now, Why Peggy?
It boils down to our vision here at NCQA and Peggy’s contribution to making that vision a reality. Our vision: To transform health care quality through measurement, transparency and accountability.
30 years ago, those terms were foreign to the healthcare field. Today, they are not only commonplace, but drive improvements in everything from measuring cholesterol medication adherence to validating that health care data is handled appropriately.
It’s amazing when you think about it. Peggy’s had a hand in it all. Just check out the 25 for 25 blog posts we put together to mark NCQA’s 25th anniversary. NCQA’s accomplishments are Peggy’s accomplishments. Certainly, in the past 30 years, few people have influenced the health care system more. Peggy’s role as quality’s chief advocate is, frankly, unrivaled.
But that’s not the only reason to take the time to vote for Peggy.
These are complex times in health care-in policy and practice. The system continues to evolve rapidly. Political and regulatory winds blow in changing directions. Technology advancements continue to race ahead and change the health care climate with both challenges and opportunities for improving quality.
There’s reason to be confident “we got this,” because Peggy’s got this. She’s already made a permanent impression on how we measure and improve care. Beyond that, she’s recruited, informed and educated thousands of people for the quality improvement cause. That was evident at NCQA’s PCMH Congress in Boston last week. In sessions and in the hallways, Peggy consistently talked to congress attendees about what lies ahead, praised them for their work and encouraged them to make quality improvement their battle cry.
A Vote for Peggy is a Vote for….
So, a vote for Peggy is a vote for preserving the quality of health care. It’s a vote for measurement to set benchmarks for better. It’s a vote for transparency—sharing the methodology and results of measurement to collaborate for better. It’s a vote for accountability to assure that practices and health plans meet the needs of people and continuously pursue better.
We know that is a hefty agenda. We’re always working on it.
Pursuing better, because Peggy O’Kane.
