NCQA Health Equity Accreditation Plus

About this Webinar Training

Cost: $449
Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2022; 1-4pm ET

NCQA Health Equity Accreditation Plus

NCQA's Health Equity Accreditation Plus helps health care organizations that have implemented core Health Equity Accreditation activities establish processes and cross-sector partnerships that identify and address social risk factors in their communities and the social needs of the people they serve. This program will highlight how Health Equity Accreditation Plus builds on these activities for organizations that are more advanced and have an ongoing commitment to health equity.

Attend this live discussion to gain in-depth knowledge from the architects of the new NCQA Health Equity Accreditation Plus program. There will be an opportunity to hear more about the Health Equity Accreditation Plus program and its requirements, and ask your questions live.

What You Will Learn

• Outline the fundamental principles and scope of Health Equity Accreditation Plus.
• Determine how to define their service area and communities served as applicable for the program.
• Describe data collection and use expectations for social needs and social risks.
• Understand how to prioritize the social risks and social needs impacting their population and outline steps for partnering with organizations to address priorities.
• Uncover key considerations for how to establish and maintain relationships with the communities served.
• Become familiar with expectations to track referrals and identify opportunities to improve interventions.
• Hear examples of how pilot participants have operationalized the standards.

Who Should Attend

• Health plans
• Health systems
• Hospitals
• Managed behavioral healthcare organizations
• Population health organizations
• Wellness organizations leveragers are the federal government, states and employers

Faculty

Amelia Bedri, MSHA

Amelia Bedri is currently a Program Content Engineer, Product Development at the National Committee for Quality Assurance. In this position, Ms. Bedri works collaboratively to organize the direction, structure and delivery of NCQA’s Accreditation and Certification Standards and Guidelines, from concept to launch. Ms. Bedri has led the development cycle for NCQA’s Health Equity Accreditation program and acts as the subject matter expert for the product. As part of the development cycle, Ms. Bedri employs an iterative framework when drafting standards which includes continuous engagement with NCQA advisory committees, customers, and other stakeholders to inform market need, content specification and determine standard feasibility.

Prior to this role, Ms. Bedri was a Policy Manager, Accreditation Policy where she served as the product and context expert for designated Accreditation products and was responsible for providing clarification of content-specific issues for internal and external customers. This role allowed Ms. Bedri to gain a thorough understanding of how to interpret NCQA Accreditation Standards and Guidelines, the product development and maintenance cycle, and the importance of customer input.

Prior to joining NCQA, Ms. Bedri worked as the lead researcher for MedStar Health Corporation in Washington, DC, in the development of their community health needs assessment. Ms. Bedri was responsible for performing research, analyzing primary and secondary data, leading community engagement meetings, and providing recommendations for hospital resource allocation.

Ms. Bedris’ experience in the health care industry is unique, she has held numerous positions in a variety of settings: from the hospital environment to managed care, with personal home care agencies and consulting for start-ups, health systems and state health departments.

Ms. Bedri earned her MHSA from Georgetown University and graduated with summa cum laude.

Tisha Crowder-Martin PhD, RN, MS, CENP

Tisha Crowder-Martin PhD, RN, MS, CENP has over 25 years of experience as a Registered Nurse. She began her career as a staff nurse in pediatric oncology in Seattle, Washington then moved to adult oncology in Michigan.  After twelve years as a certified hematology/oncology nurse, she transitioned to the nurse executive field as the Nurse Manager of a Medical-Oncology Unit, Associate Chief Nurse of Patient Care Services, and Chief of Quality Management within Veterans Administration.  She is currently the Associate Quality Director for UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Michigan, Inc.  

Crowder-Martin earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington, a Master of Science in Nursing Business and Health Systems from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Nursing from Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Crowder-Martin is Adjunct Faculty for the University of Michigan working with Doctor of Nursing Practice students completing quality improvement studies focused on improving Veteran care. 
Crowder-Martin’s research interest include studying the impact of health care policies on quality outcomes such as the impact of scope of practice laws on access to health care. As a nursing leader she is interested in the inclusion of nurse leaders in health care policy decision making. 

Dao Fang

Dao Fang has a Doctor of Health Administration, a Master of Art in Social Work, and a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science.  She has over 17 years of experience in developing and implementing health disparities intervention. Fang is a Health Equity Manager at Health Net of California, leading health equity and cultural competency programs for diverse membership across California. 

Erin Griffith

Erin began her nursing journey after a career in financial and health care compliance.  After 10+ years as a certified trauma and critical care nurse, she assumed the role of Director of Utilization Management for Geisinger Health Plan.  She currently serves as Director of Health Services and  holds responsibility for Accreditation and Member Experience for Geisinger.

Tammy Macdonald, MPH

Tammy Macdonald is currently Staff VP, Accreditation and Quality Programs at Elevance Health (formerly Anthem Inc.). In this position, Ms. Macdonald has oversight of executive committees, health plan and specialty accreditations, administration and reporting of member and provider satisfaction surveys and member immunization outreach programs. She has managed Elevance Health’s Multicultural Health Care Distinctions and now Health Equity Accreditations. 

Ms. Macdonald holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of North Texas Health Science Center. 

Sarah Elizabeth Morrow, MA

Sarah Elizabeth Morrow, MA (she/her) is Program Director for Clinical-Community Programs at UPMC for You, UPMC Health Plan’s Medicaid plan which serves the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sarah’s work focuses on the intersections of clinical, community, and government priorities to develop targeted Medicaid programs that meet the health equity and social determinant needs of both members and larger communities. She leads a team focused on identifying and addressing systemic barriers to clinical care, expanding impactful partnerships with community based organizations, integrating provider SDOH efforts into good clinical practice, and prioritizing member needs.
Prior to joining UPMC Health Plan, Sarah worked with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Alabama. Sarah’s research and community development background includes work on clinical SDOH screening, food security, human development, disability, and US healthcare systems through an intersectional, anthropological lens.

Sarah holds a BA in Anthropology and a BA in Theater from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MA with a focus in Biocultural Medical Anthropology from the University of Alabama.

Elizabeth Ryder

Liz Ryder (she/her) is Senior Manager in Product Development at NCQA. In this role, she leads NCQA’s cross-functional team tasked with identifying opportunities to embed expectations for health equity into all NCQA programs and pursuing new opportunities to advance health equity amid a rapidly evolving health care landscape

Shannon Saksewski, LMSW, MBA

Shannon Saksewski, LMSW, MBA leads Aetna Medicaid’s SDoH strategy and initiatives in the organization’s Central and Western Regions. She has been with Aetna’s Medicaid organization for approximately 7 years, having spent the bulk of that time working with providers to support their success with value-based contracts. This work incorporated clinical and operational expertise, and often revealed issues related to social care.

Shannon’s career has been devoted to addressing complex and ever-changing problems in healthcare, specifically with regard to understanding, and improving, how consumers access and engage with care. In particular, her interests lie where data, technology, and people converge to support the health of individuals and communities. Shannon calls herself a “Michigan lifer,” having earned her BA, MSW, and MBA all from the University of Michigan. She is a Licensed Master’s Social Worker, living in Ypsilanti, MI with her partner and son.

Deborah Wheeler, MSPH, CMCE

Deborah Wheeler has over 30 years of experience in quality improvement operations, policy and strategy development, with related subject matter expertise within the health plan industry. In her current position, Deborah Wheeler serves as the Vice President, Quality for Molina Healthcare Inc., based in Long Beach, California. In this role, Ms. Wheeler oversees key national quality functions for Molina including quality improvement compliance, NCQA accreditation, new business development for quality, and quality policy development. Prior to joining Molina, Deborah led quality improvement initiatives and departments for various health plans. She also directed policy and strategic quality initiatives at America’s Health Insurance Plans, the national trade association for health plans. She holds a Master of Science in Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she specialized in health policy. 

Jerome Williams, Jr., MD, MBA

Dr. Jerome Williams, Jr. is an Interventional Cardiologist and Senior Vice President of Consumer Engagement for Novant Health. As SVP of Consumer Engagement, Dr. Williams leads the overarching strategic development and design of Social Responsibility, Community Wellness, Community Benefit, Community Engagement and Partnerships for Novant Health. Through the lens of an experienced physician executive leader with business acumen, Dr. Williams is focused on aligning both traditional and non-traditional partners to translate the needs of the community, specifically social determinants of health and human services, into health system strategic initiatives.  Dr. Williams is also responsible for the strategic direction of the Family Medicine Residency Programs.  In addition to his strategic leadership role as SVP, Dr. Williams serves as a physician leader on the NH Health Equity Council. Through the constellation of clinical and business activities, Dr. Williams strives to bring greater value to patients and communities through collaboration across disciplines, creating alignment to enable growth and accountability for the clinical outcomes, social impact and associated financial risk of healthcare consumers of all communities.

Over the years, Dr. Williams has served on a number of local boards and committees. He was one of the founding members of the Carolinas Association for Community Health Equity (CACHE) and served as co-chair of the Mecklenburg County COVID-19 Recovery and Renewal Task Force. Currently he serves on the following boards: Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Foundation, One Charlotte Health Alliance and Charlotte Community Health Clinic. He also serves on the Robert Wood Johnson National Advisory Committee and the UNC Clinical Translational Science Award External Advisory Board. Most recently Dr. Williams was recognized by Modern Healthcare Magazine as a Top 25 innovator for 2021 in the Population Health category as well as receiving the Charlotte Business Journals 2021 Healthcare Heroes Award in the Community Outreach Executive category.   
 

Continuing Education

This live course grants 2.0 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) points for PCMH Certified Content Experts.  

* Please note – You must attend the entire program to be eligible for total number of contact hours.

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) endorses the Standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education which specify that sponsors of continuing medical education activities and presenters at and planners for these activities disclose any relevant financial relationships either party might have with commercial companies whose products or services are discussed in educational presentations.

For sponsors, relevant financial relationships include large research grants, institutional agreements for joint initiatives, substantial gifts, or other relationships that benefit the institution.  For presenters or planning committee members, relevant financial relationships include the receipt of research grants from a commercial company, consultancies, honoraria, travel, or other benefits, or having a self-managed equity interest in a company; or having an immediate family member or partner with such a relationship.

Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone bias in any presentation but is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Relevant financial relationships exist with the following companies/organizations:

Faculty:

Amelia Bedri: None
Trisha Crowder Martin: None
Dao Fang: None
Erin Griffith: None
Tammy MacDonald: None
Sarah Marrow: None
Elizabeth Ryder: None
Shannon Saksewski: None
Debbie Wheeler: None
Jerome Williams: None

Additional Planning Committee Member:

Crissy Crittenden: None

This program was developed in part by NCQA staff.

This program received no commercial support.

Event Type

1. Live Online