On this edition of Inside Healthcare, catch up with our friend Tom Curtis, Senior Manager of Quality Improvement for the Michigan State Dept. of Health and Human Services. He sits on NCQA’s Public Sector Advisory Board. We wanted to get an inside look at the state that has grown it’s Medicaid Managed Care program under the expansion of the Affordable Care Act. It’s been about 5 years since the expansion in Michigan, and Tom sees first-hand how changes impact Medicaid beneficiaries. We also talk ...
Apr 22, 2019•20 min•Ep. 23
On this edition of “Inside Health Care” we catch up with NCQA Founder and President, Peggy O’ Kane. There’s plenty to talk about. Most of this conversation concentrates on the technology revolution already underway in terms of health data collection and analysis. She points out quality improvement’s role in the revolution and what it means for the industry’s future. Please be sure to come back here afterwards and tell us what you think about the interview and Peggy’s take on what lies ahead. You...
Apr 02, 2019•24 min•Ep. 22
NCQA’s podcast Inside Health Care is back with a topic making a lot of news recently: ICD-10 diagnostic codes that capture social determinants of health. In this episode, Matt Brock, NCQA’s Director of Communications, chats with Sheila Shapiro, UnitedHealthcare’s (UHC) Vice President for National Strategic Partnerships. Sheila talks about UHC’s efforts to promote these new codes. Medicare providers can use them to target codes for social issues? Lack of healthy food choices? Limited transportati...
Mar 26, 2019•19 min•Ep. 21
It’s hard for me to remember a time when I wasn’t struggling with mental health issues. It’s even harder for me a remember a time when I wasn’t ashamed to talk about it. Even now, I still fear the reaction this kind of admission might invite from friends and professional peers. That’s why I am pleased and honored to interview Paul Gionfriddo for this edition of Inside Health Care. Paul is President and CEO of Mental Health America (MHA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the needs...
Mar 05, 2019•23 min•Ep. 20
In this episode of our podcast, Inside Health Care , NCQA Director of Communications, Matt Brock, spoke with Andrew Anderson, NCQA’s Phyllis Torda Health Care Quality Fellowship recipient. Anderson discusses his background and future plans, and how he learned about the Phyllis Torda Health Care Quality Fellowship. Anderson, a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland, also discusses his new paper, ACO Affiliated Hospitals Increase Implementation of Care Coordination Strategies , which he recen...
Mar 04, 2019•16 min•Ep. 19
Dr. Ted Abernathy In this edition of our podcast, Inside Healthcare , NCQA traveled to Midlothian, Virginia, to speak to Dr. Ted Abernathy, founder of Pediatric and Adolescent Health Partners, a NCQA-Recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home. In this podcast, Dr. Abernathy discusses how this care helps enhance clinicians’ responsiveness, significantly reduces patient stress, and improves cohesiveness among staff. Dr. Abernathy also chats about his experience working with NCQA during the transform...
Feb 07, 2019•17 min•Ep. 18
Quality Talks 2018 sneaked up on us quickly—it’s just a few weeks away! And here’s a “sneak” peek at one of our electrifying Quality Talks speakers, Liz Salmi. Unlike a lot of our speakers, who knew right away they wanted to be involved in medicine, Liz followed a different path. You could say that getting sick sparked her interest in health care: She has been living with brain cancer for 10 years. Straight out of high school, Liz went on cross-country as a drummer in a punk rock band. And after...
Oct 10, 2018•21 min•Ep. 17
In this week’s edition of our podcast, Inside Healthcare , NCQA traveled to Midlothian, Virginia, to speak to patients at Pediatric and Adolescent Health Partners, an NCQA-Recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home. We sat down with Angela Ogden, a teacher and single mother of three. Angela Ogden Angela has one biological child and two adopted children. Her two adopted children, Christine and Ariel, both 16, have special needs. “With their level of need, I knew we needed someone who’d understand a...
Jul 27, 2018•10 min•Ep. 16
Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death, but when it comes to screening for alcohol use and providing the right follow-up care, there is large gap in care. The National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) researched this issue and found a shortage of screening for misuse of alcohol. But when screenings do take place – like when doctors ask their patients about their drinking habits – we found many patients who need help are not identified or followed-up with appropriately...
Jul 26, 2018•27 min•Ep. 15
The Emory Transplant Center has been recognized as the first transplant center in the nation to receive the Patient-Centered Specialty Practice (PCSP) Recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). For this episode of Inside Health Care, Matt Brock, National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Communications Director spoke with Chris Diasio and Dr. James Spivey of the Emory Transplant Center. Both guests discuss how they became interested in NCQA’s PCSP Recognition Pr...
Jul 19, 2018•19 min•Ep. 14
How do we as a society think about mental illness? It’s a big question—and there’s more than one answer. But one thing is certain: There’s an urgent need for this issue to become part of a national discussion. Recently, we sat down with Mary Giliberti, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, who told us that the state of mental health treatment in the United States is in “crisis.” “We feel like the urgency you see with HIV and cancer is the same urgency you should have with mental health...
Jul 18, 2018•20 min•Ep. 13
Look who stopped by to talk about the value of the Patient-Centered Medical Home model of care. Susanne Madden is founder and CEO of The Verden Group, a consulting firm founded to help practices navigate through the increasingly complex business of healthcare. Her career has spanned several sections of the healthcare industry. Prior to founding Verden, she was employed by UnitedHealthcare in the area of physician network management and spent several years as an independent healthcare consultant ...
Mar 14, 2018•29 min•Ep. 12
What does it mean to create a healthy population? It means not just treating patients for their specific illnesses but taking into account their whole health – the other factors that might contribute to their particular illness – then applying that kind of care to a group of people with similar health needs. It’s that whole-person delivery of care that NCQA has been advocating and working toward since its inception more than 25 years ago. NCQA recently added Population Health Management (PHM) as...
Mar 14, 2018•12 min•Ep. 11
Dr. Mark H. Greenawald Physician burnout has reached epidemic proportions in healthcare, presenting a serious challenge to achieving of the Triple Aim of better patient care and better population health at a lower cost. In this episode of Inside Healthcare, Dr. Mark H. Greenawald, Vice Chair, Academic Affairs and Professional Development, Carilion Clinic talks about the ‘4th Aim’ of health care — the importance of caring for the caregivers. Dr. Greenawald describes the solutions they’ve put into...
Nov 15, 2017•8 min•Ep. 10
Breast Cancer Awareness Month began in 1985 to promote mammography as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer. As a result of this awareness effort, more women are getting screened. But we still have a long way to go to ensure every woman gets a recommended mammogram at the right time. How do we ensure screenings happen at the right time? As we like to say, NCQA has a measure for that. Our HEDIS measure for Breast Cancer Screening tracks women 50-74 who had at least one mamm...
Oct 18, 2017•10 min•Ep. 9
In our first Inside Health Care episode, we preview the Quality Talk of Dr. Martin Makary. We encourage you to register now at www.qualitytalks.org . Hope you enjoy the preview. Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH | Professor of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Professor of Health Policy & Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Chief, Johns Hopkins Center for Islet Transplantation Surgery Dr. Marty Makary is a surgical oncologist specializing in minimally-inv...
Sep 13, 2017•28 min•Ep. 8
