Statement from Dana Gelb Safran, ScD, National Quality Forum President and CEO 

Eighteen months ago, I was honored to join NQF as CEO to lead an organization revered for its vital role in our nation’s healthcare ecosystem. NQF endorsement has become the country’s universally accepted gold standard signaling that a measure is scientifically sound, clinically important, and appropriate for broad adoption and use. Our approach to setting standards for healthcare quality is recognized and admired globally. These are the products of trusted collaboration across payers, purchasers, providers, patients, and other stakeholders that has defined NQF from the outset and stood the test of time.

We are deeply disappointed that CMS has selected a different organization to review and endorse quality measures and make recommendations to federal programs.

At this moment where crises abound in our nation’s healthcare system and where quality measurement remains central to addressing these challenges, NQF’s work is not done. My many conversations with all of you validate the community’s shared sense of urgency to improve quality, safety, equity and affordability and frustration with the pace of change. These conversations also highlight the imperative of advancing a next generation of measures that reflect outcomes that matter to patients and that ease the current burdens of measurement and reporting for clinicians and health systems. I came to NQF to advance a bold vision and accelerate progress on this urgent work.

We have been building toward that vision – understanding that the health and healthcare challenges our nation faces are felt beyond the federal government, to every corner of the private sector and in every state. We will continue to expand our work with all of you who share a commitment to making progress on these audacious and necessary goals. We look forward to our continued partnership and to forging new initiatives that accelerate progress toward addressing your highest priority healthcare quality concerns. Thank you for your enduring trust, collaboration, and confidence.