April 17, 2024
Statement attributed to:
Rachel Harrington, PhD
Assistant Vice President of Health Equity Sciences
“NCQA is excited to see the final revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15) issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on March 29, 2024, and wishes to express appreciation for OMB’s inclusive and thorough approach to the review of the standards. The revisions to SPD 15 are reflective of our April 20, 2023 public comment and our commitment to evolving standards, specifically in health care, to facilitate better, more complete equity data collection that will lead to improvements in health care quality for all Americans.
As a national leader in quality oversight and a pioneer in quality measurement, NCQA is committed to helping organizations navigate their journey towards an equitable, digitally enabled health care system. As such, we are actively evaluating the impact of the SPD 15 changes on our HEDIS measure and accreditation programs. We have already submitted a public comment to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) on USDCI v5 to encourage alignment with SPD 15 in an effort to harmonize implementation across the health care industry and accelerate adoption.
We will keep NCQA stakeholders informed over the coming months as we develop our approach and implementation strategy. We look forward to guiding the industry, in our capacity as a trusted third party, toward alignment with these new national best practice standards, with the goal of enabling a future of health-equity focused digital quality measurement.”
About NCQA
NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA Accredits and Certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also Recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA’s website (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make informed health care choices. NCQA can also be found at Twitter @ncqa and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/ncqa.
Media Contact
Theresa Masnik
SHIFT Communications
NCQA@shiftcomm.com