NCQA Launches Digital Health Engagement Accreditation Program

Digital health solutions are booming, but a critical roadblock stands in the way: the lack of a common quality framework. Purchasers seek greater transparency from vendors regarding how their solutions engage members and improve health outcomes, while vendors need better data on the members they serve to provide more effective support.

NCQA is launching a Digital Health Engagement Accreditation program that establishes a common quality framework and clear expectations for digital health solutions, increasing trust between purchasers and vendors and facilitating the shift toward performance-based contracting.

“NCQA’s program is unique because it was co-developed with the ecosystem, including the technology vendors building these tools, the organizations such as health plans and employers who are buying them, and the patients who are using them,” says Mia Nievera, NCQA’s Director of Clinical Quality Informatics. “It allowed us to evaluate the technological capabilities and customer needs simultaneously.”

Grounded in Market Research

The program’s content was informed by robust customer and market engagement.

Working Group

NCQA convened a working group with over 30 industry leaders—digital solution vendors, health plans, health systems, employers and patients—to discuss best practices, current challenges and emerging opportunities related to digital health engagement solutions. The feedback from this group laid the foundation for our standards and measures.

Learning Collaborative

NCQA formed a learning collaborative with five data testing partners that performed end-to-end testing of measures and eight advisory partners representing purchasers and public agencies that rely on engagement data for decision-making. Our partners tested two measures—goal setting and goal attainment—as potential measures of meaningful engagement with digital health solutions.

“One of the key takeaways from the learning collaborative is that the data structure is highly variable in terms of the types of data being collected, how those data are exchanged and stored, and how organizations are leveraging AI to manage the data,” says Nievera. “Our testing results reinforced the need for a measurement approach that standardizes key engagement signals and how populations are defined, while remaining flexible enough to accommodate different program designs.”

Public Comment

NCQA received over 1,400 comments, primarily from wellness and condition management vendors, digital health companies, care delivery and other organizations. Overall, the feedback was positive, with respondents citing benefits such as standardized quality expectations for digital health, increased credibility with purchasers, alignment with evidence-based practices and clearer differentiation across vendors.

“While the majority of the responses were positive, public comment also emphasized the need for greater flexibility to account for diverse business models, scopes of service and levels of data access,” says Jeni Soucie, NCQA’s Senior Manager of Product Management. “Organizations also expressed strong support for a ‘structured flexibility’ model that allows organizations to define their own measures within NCQA guardrails.”

What We Learned

Several key themes emerged from our research and were addressed in the program design:

• Engagement is more than enrollment or goal setting. Meaningful engagement is reflected through behavioral change, goal attainment and consistent interaction with digital health tools.
• Digital tools must adapt to diverse patient needs. That means incorporating social determinants of health concepts, including Food is Medicine approaches, and recognizing how caregivers can support members on their health journey.
• A standardized measurement framework is essential. Without a common performance yardstick, it is difficult to assess whether reported improvements reflect true program impact or differences in measurement approaches.
• Data gaps must be addressed. Organizations must continue to invest in structured data capture and in improving data accessibility for quality reporting. The industry also needs to align on minimum data expectations.
• Tools should be integrated into routine care delivery. Care teams should have access to the information collected through apps and devices, enabling clinical support and ongoing monitoring.
• AI presents both opportunities and risks. Guardrails are needed to facilitate responsible integration of AI-enabled tools and workflows.
• Privacy protections are foundational. Patients need to understand where their personal health information is stored, how it is used and what steps are taken to secure it.

About Digital Health Engagement Accreditation

NCQA’s new Digital Health Engagement Accreditation is a 3-year Accreditation for digital tools and applications. The program includes Core Standards and two modules, Health Assessment and Digitally Enabled Interventions. Organizations may participate in one or both modules.

The program includes two types of measures:

1. NCQA‑defined, standardized measures. Consistent specifications and reporting structures to produce comparable data across organizations.
2. Organization‑defined measures. Recognizing the diversity of program goals and outcomes, organizations are given flexibility to define additional measures by using a standardized NCQA template.

This measurement strategy is grounded in real‑world program behavior and supports meaningful evaluation, continuous improvement and an impact on outcomes.

“We’re excited to bring this new program to the market to define what high-quality digital health solutions look like and to help bridge the gap between technology vendors and purchasers,” says Soucie. “It will help vendors demonstrate that they deliver value in quality terms that are meaningful to purchasers and it will facilitate the shift to performance-based contracting.”

Learn More

• Register for our webinar, Digital Health That Delivers: Driving Engagement and Value, on June 30 at 1:00 p.m. (ET).
• Listen to our podcast, Beyond the App: What Meaningful Digital Engagement Really Looks Like.
• Purchase the Digital Health Engagement Accreditation standards in the NCQA Store starting on June 30.

NCQA is also developing a digital health solutions playbook for purchasers. If you would like to learn more or get involved, please email us.

Watch for an invitation to join our Early Adopter cohort coming soon!