December 8, 2005 

John Tooker, M.D., Named to NCQA Board of Directors

Executive Vice President and CEO of the American College of Physicians joins NCQA Board

WASHINGTON—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced today that John Tooker, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P., Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Physicians (ACP), has been named to its Board of Directors.

NCQA’s Board plays a key role in setting the organization’s agenda and is broadly charged with overseeing its work and programs. The board is composed of 16 health care opinion and thought leaders from across the country, and includes employers, consumer groups, health care organizations, academia and public sector representatives (see list below).

“Key decisions about what, when and how we measure performance at the provider level will be made in the next few years, and NCQA will play a lead role in those decisions,” said Dr. Tooker. “I look forward to working with NCQA to help design a system that helps physicians improve their practices and increases the value of care for patients.”

In his role at ACP, Dr. Tooker is responsible for administration of the College’s activities in medical education, membership services, publications, marketing and communications, and public policy. He previously served as ACP's Deputy Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. A board-certified internist and pulmonologist, Tooker is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from Colorado University and served as assistant chief, department of internal medicine and program director of the internal medicine residency program at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.

“I’m delighted to welcome John Tooker to the Board, and look forward to his counsel as we move our quality agenda forward, especially as we expand measurement at the physician level,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane.

With the addition of Tooker, Thomas Reardon, MD, has retired from the Board. Reardon is past president of the American Medical Association and has served on the NCQA Board since 1995. NCQA thanks him for his valuable contributions and input, and wishes him well in his future endeavors.

“NCQA is in Tom Reardon’s debt for his decade of service on the Board,” added O’Kane. “His leadership was rooted in a deep understanding of the big picture when it comes to health care quality and a passion for ensuring that patients and physicians alike had a voice.”

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and manages the evolution of HEDISâ, the performance measurement tool used by more than 90 percent of the nation’s health plans. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web and the media in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

NCQA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

James Bradley -- Chair	Robert J. Margolis, M.D. -- HealthCare Partners (Chair-elect)
David F. Durenberger -- National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP)	Robert S. Galvin, M.D. -- General Electric Company
William Goss -- Cain Brothers	Jerome P. Kassirer, M.D. -- Tufts School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
Peter V. Lee, J.D. -- Pacific Business Group on Health	Ralph W. Muller -- University of Pennsylvania Health System
Debra Ness -- National Partnership for Women and Families	Joseph Newhouse, Ph.D. -- Harvard University
Margaret E. O'Kane -- NCQA	Steve Sleigh -- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Ellen Stovall -- National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship	John Tooker, M.D. -- American College of Physicians
I. Steven Udvarhelyi, M.D. -- Independence Blue Cross	Woody Williams -- General Motors