Governance

NCQA is governed by an independent Board of Directors. The Board is comprised of fifteen members plus the President of the Organization. The Board Chair is an independent director who serves a term of three years as Chair. There are no seats on the NCQA Board reserved for specific stakeholders. Rather, Board composition is structured to include many competencies and a multi-stakeholder model including representatives from employers, physicians, public policy experts, consumer groups and health systems, all of which are instrumental in enabling NCQA to achieve its mission.

The current Board is comprised of the following individuals:

Dolores L. Mitchell  (Chair) 
Executive Director, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission

David C.K. Chin, MD
Distinguished Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 

Michael L. Davis
Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources, General Mills

Elizabeth Gilbertson
Chief of Strategy, UNITE HERE HEALTH 

George C. Halvorson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

Pamela Hymel, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts

Jeffrey L. Kang, MD
Senior Vice President, Pharmacy, Health and Wellness Services and Solutions, Walgreens

Talmadge E. King, Jr., MD
Chair, Department of Medicine, University of California

Robert J. Margolis, MD
Chief Executive Officer and  Managing Partner, Healthcare Partners Medical Group  
     
Ralph W. Muller
Chief Executive Officer, University of Pennsylvania Health System

Edward Murphy, MD 
Advisor/Operating Partner, TowerBrook Capital Partner 

Debra L. Ness
President, National Partnership for Women and Families

Joseph Newhouse, PhD
John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy, Research and Management, Harvard University     

Len Nichols, PhD
Director, Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics, George Mason University

Margaret E. O’Kane
President, National Committee for Quality Assurance 

John Tooker, MD, MBA, MACP 
CEO Emeritus, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, American College of Physicians

Board Subcommittees

There are four subcommittees of NCQA’s Board.  Board committees generally meet four times a year or as needed.  The primary function of each committee is briefly described below.

Executive and Compensation Committee

Acts on behalf of the Board as needed in between meetings. This Committee is also responsible for evaluating the performance of the President of the organization and approving the compensation for the President and corporate officers.

Governance Committee

Responsible for establishing and implementing governance policies for the organization.  This Committee is also responsible for recruiting new directors, evaluating the performance of existing directors, Board succession planning and establishment of Board meeting agendas.

Finance and Audit Committee

Responsible for establishing and overseeing financial policies governing the organization.  The Committee also oversees the annual budget and operating results and recommends adoption of final operating and capital budgets to the Board. The organization’s audit firm reports to the Finance and Audit Committee, which recommends approval of the audited financials to the Board.

Managing Conflicts of Interest

NCQA’s multi-stakeholder model is also key to ensuring that any potential biases are balanced by differing and often opposing views on the Board.  In addition, NCQA is committed to ensuring that decisions that impact the organization are made without undue influence or conflict of interest.  To achieve that end, NCQA utilizes strict conflict of interest disclosure and conflict management policies for its Board and NCQA’s expert panels. The policies and procedures used to manage conflicts are available through the following links:

• Board of Directors
• Review Oversight Committee
• Other NCQA and Expert Technical Panels

Development of Products and Public Comment

As part of its product development process, NCQA puts proposed standards and quality performance measures out for public comment.  This enables NCQA to consider relevant input from all stakeholders before NCQA finalizes standards and quality performance measures.  Notice of public comment is posted on NCQA’s Web site and typically lasts thirty days.