January 30, 2007
Massachusetts Official Named to NCQA Board of Directors
Dolores Mitchell a Long-Time Advocate for Value Purchasing
Dolores Mitchell, Executive Director of the Group Insurance Commission for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has been elected to serve on the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Board of Directors. The agency Mitchell heads provides life, health, disability and dental and vision services to 250,000 state employees, retirees and their dependents. Mitchell is a strong advocate of combining quality care and cost containment to bring better health care to the state’s employees.
During her 20 years at GIC, Ms. Mitchell has effectively kept the cost of the state’s insurance premiums low compared to national and municipal costs. In 2006, the agency launched a Clinical Performance Improvement Initiative to promote quality through sorting physicians according to relevant clinical quality and cost-effectiveness data.
“Keeping health care expenses manageable for thousands of state employees is a Herculean task,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Dolores has consistently asked tough questions and implemented sophisticated initiatives to help keep costs under control while keeping quality high. She’s served the people of Massachusetts tremendously well and I have no doubt she’ll do the same on NCQA’s Board.”
Prior to taking her current position in 1987, Mitchell served as Cabinet Coordinator and as Secretary of Human Services under then-Governor Michael Dukakis. She has also served under former Governors William Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, Mitt Romney, and current Governor Deval Patrick. She is a member of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium and is on the governing board of the new Massachusetts Healthcare Reform Authority.
NCQA’s 16-member Board plays a key role in setting the organization’s agenda and oversees its work and programs. The group comprises influential individuals from across the country representing employers, consumer groups, health care organizations, academia and the public sector.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations recognizes physicians and health care providers in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the tool the nation’s health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health choices. For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.
# # #