NCQA’s Health Quality Forum Opening Remarks: “We Must Raise Our Ambitions”

April 7, 2025 · Becky Kolinski

NCQA’s Health Quality Forum kicked off today in Baltimore, MD, with thought-provoking opening remarks from NCQA’s President and CEO, Peggy O’Kane, who challenged attendees to raise their ambitions, push beyond the status quo and embrace comprehensive, transformative solutions.

“We need to expand our perspective, looking not only at how we manage chronic diseases, but at how we can prevent them altogether,” says O’Kane. “We need to harness technology, not just for measurement, but for meaningful, patient-centered care. And above all, we need to listen—to patients, to clinicians, to the people on the front lines—so we can build a system that truly serves them.”

O’Kane also reflected on 35 years of quality improvement at NCQA, and announced her new Quality Talks podcast before joining Dr. Meena Seshamani, incoming Secretary of the Department of Health for Maryland, for a Fireside Chat about the future of health care quality.

NCQA Celebrates 35 Years of Quality

NCQA was born in borrowed office space in Washington, DC, on April 4, 1990. Our idea has always been that quality is not just an individual effort, but a systemwide movement. We work with employers, health plans and clinicians who share a vision of accountability, prevention and better care for all.

“Looking back, I am deeply proud of what we have accomplished,” says O’Kane. “We have made population health a priority, and embedded accountability into the system. Today, 235 million people are covered by health plans that report HEDIS data. We have saved lives by championing measures like colorectal cancer screening, which has helped double screening rates in this country. We ‘turned on the lights,’ and the health care landscape is forever changed.”

Highlighting key challenges in the industry, O’Kane also expressed a deep sense of “unfinished business” as she prepares to retire from NCQA at the end of the year:

• Structural barriers—fee-for-service models, fragmented care and a lack of respect for primary care—make our system more costly and less effective than it should be.
• Payment models and incentives are misaligned. More care still equals more money, and there is a lack of focus on prevention.
• Despite incredible advances in data and technology, we remain mired in data chaos that prevents us from fully realizing the potential of digital transformation.

“If we can fix these problems, we can deliver real value to every patient,” says O’Kane. “If we don’t, the financial strain of our broken system will only worsen, particularly as the Baby Boomer generation ages and health care demand surges. We are approaching a crisis, and the time to act is now.”

New Podcast

NCQA is launching a podcast series, Quality Talks With Peggy O’Kane, which features interviews with health care’s brightest thinkers—executives, researchers and innovators who are driving real change. O’Kane will explore the promise of new technology, the revitalization of primary care and how we can deliver meaningful value for every patient. Details coming soon!

Fireside Chat with Dr. Meena Seshamani 

Dr. Seshamani emphasized the importance of staying focused on the fundamentals—patient care, quality and access—during times of policy uncertainty, and encouraged attendees to support each other as we drive the quality agenda forward.

Key Takeaways

• Put patients first. Dr. Seshamani says we are “greater than the sum of our diagnostic codes.” The health care system focuses on treating codes, rather than treating people, and that needs to change.
• Identify and reduce disparities. Different people have different health care experiences—we need to address barriers that prevent people from being healthy. “You can’t have quality without equity,” says Dr. Seshamani.
• Continue to innovate. “States are an incredible laboratory for health care innovation,” says Dr. Seshamani. We must identify pockets of exceptional work, and find ways to scale those practices across areas of need to drive tangible impact.
• Be honest and transparent. Seshamani cited the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program as an example of a successful negotiation: having an honest conversation, finding out what motivates people and acknowledging areas of disagreement. “If you haven’t had a disagreement, it means you’re not tackling the tough things.”
• Remain open to all perspectives. The biggest challenge confronting health care today is “the potential loss of collaborative dialogue,” says Dr. Seshamani. The only way to drive improvement is to let down your guard, accept that you may not have all the answers and be willing to partner with others.

Learn More

We’ll post more updates from the Health Quality Forum on the NCQA blog, so check back soon!