National Quality Forum Announces New Task Force to Drive Value through the Next Generation of Quality 

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, the National Quality Forum (NQF) announced the launch of a new Task Force: Driving Value through the Next Generation of Quality. In partnership with nationally recognized healthcare leaders and the generous support of Kaiser Permanente, Geisinger, the Aetna Foundation, Intermountain Healthcare, the American Hospital Association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, GlaxoSmithKline, and HCA Healthcare, the Task Force will make recommendations aimed at normalizing high value, person-centered care throughout the U.S. by 2030.

Twenty years ago, NQF was founded out of a confluence of circumstances – several high visibility medical errors, research findings, publications, roundtables, and a Presidential Commission, among other things – all bringing national attention to safety and quality concerns in the U.S. healthcare system and launching a national movement to establish safe, high quality care. Over the last two decades, the country has made significant policy, clinical practice, data, and technology advancements successfully proving that healthcare quality can be improved through concerted efforts and systematic planning, measurement, and process re-design. However, despite the progress, significant work remains to arrive at the point that every person in every community can expect to consistently and predictably receive high quality healthcare. Additionally, concern is growing that the nation is becoming less aligned in efforts to arrive at this end-goal.

To focus the nation’s efforts, the Task Force is asking dozens of top experts and pioneering healthcare leaders to identify actionable opportunities to achieve profoundly better health outcomes and value for every person throughout the delivery system.

“Healthcare quality efforts to this point have successfully embedded the expectation of safe, high quality care. Now is the time to ensure the next generation of quality achieves significant improvements in value, driven by consumer and community goals.” said Task Force co-chair, Shantanu Agrawal, President and NQF Chief Executive Officer.

“As healthcare leaders, we must maintain an unrelenting focus on identifying and driving cultural and system changes necessary to normalize the provision of high quality care for every person, every time, everywhere. We must make today’s exemplars the norm.” said Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, fellow co-chair of the Task Force, founding President and CEO of the NQF in 1999, and Director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement in the University of California Davis Health System.

The Task Force will kick-off in April to develop recommendations by the end of this year.

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About the National Quality Forum:
The National Quality Forum (NQF) works with members of the healthcare community to drive measurable health improvements together. NQF is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization that gives all healthcare stakeholders a voice in advancing quality measures and improvement strategies that lead to better outcomes and greater value. Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.