National Quality Forum Welcomes Ann Hammersmith, General Counsel 

Washington DC (November 12, 2009) - The National Quality Forum (NQF) has tapped Ann Hammersmith, JD, as its new general counsel. Ms. Hammersmith joins NQF from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), where she was the associate general counsel, providing comprehensive legal advice in accreditation, standards setting, and research.

NQF is a unique, multi-stakeholder, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of American healthcare by setting national priorities and goals for performance improvement, endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance, and promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.

In her role at NQF, Ms. Hammersmith will will be responsible for advising, coordinating, and assisting in the management of legal issues, including conflicts of interest, government and non-government contracts, and federal acquisition regulation. She also will address issues in intellectual property protection and exploitation and will provide oversight on compliance issues with the Consensus Development Process, NQF bylaws, board appointments, and other corporate requirements and processes.

Ms. Hammersmith has more than 20 years of legal experience in risk assessment and management, regulatory compliance, contract negotiation, alliance and collaboration structuring, and confidentiality and privacy issues. She received her law degree and bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.

The mission of the National Quality Forum is to improve the quality of American healthcare by setting national priorities and goals for performance improvement, endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance, and promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs. NQF, a non-profit organization (qualityforum.org) with diverse stakeholders across the public and private health sectors, was established in 1999 and is based in Washington, DC.