Washington, DC – National Quality Forum (NQF) President & CEO Dana Gelb Safran, ScD, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Dr. Gelb Safran is an internationally recognized healthcare executive with a unique blend of accomplishment in business, policy, and academia. A central feature of her work has been combining the science of quality measurement with the art of its use to drive significant change in the quality, outcomes, equity, and affordability of care. In addition to serving as NQF’s chief executive, she also is Chief Scientific Officer for The Joint Commission.
NAM elected Dr. Gelb Safran for leadership, innovation, and accomplishment in improving healthcare quality, outcomes, equity, and affordability through performance measurement. She has architected value-based payment models that catalyzed payment reform nationally and internationally and is a pioneer of patient-reported measures and novel consensus-based methods to rationalize and improve quality and implementation science.
“It is an extraordinary honor to have been elected by the esteemed members of the National Academy of Medicine,” said Gelb Safran. “It is gratifying and humbling to me personally, and I deeply appreciate the recognition of my contributions to making healthcare better, safer, more affordable, and more equitable through quality measurement and value-based payment.”
NAM elected 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting. The newly elected members bring NAM’s total membership to more than 2,400. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
“Dana Gelb Safran’s exceptional knowledge and proven track record leveraging next-generation measurement science to improve performance, create value, and foster equity speaks for itself,” said Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, MACP, FACMI, President and CEO, The Joint Commission, Joint Commission Resources, and Joint Commission International, and a member of NAM, himself. “She has demonstrated unwavering dedication to our shared vision that everyone receives high quality care and achieves optimal health outcomes.”
Dr. Gelb Safran served for more than a decade as a senior executive at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), where she was a lead architect of the BCBSMA Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), which is widely credited with having catalyzed the value-based payment movement among public and private payers nationally. She was also a founding member of the executive team at Haven, a joint venture of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to achieve better health outcomes, care experiences, and costs of care through innovation in care delivery, benefit design, and purchasing.
Dr. Gelb Safran is on the faculty of Tufts University School of Medicine and has held a broad range of advisory roles in the public sector and internationally supporting efforts to improve health and healthcare through effective uses of performance measurement. From 2017–2023, she served as a Commissioner of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).
Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy and inspires positive actions across sectors. NAM works alongside the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding of STEMM. With their election, NAM members make a commitment to volunteer their service in National Academies activities.
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About National Quality Forum
The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to improve healthcare outcomes, safety, equity, and affordability. Our unique role is to bring all voices to our table to forge multistakeholder consensus on quality measurement and improvement standards and practices that achieve measurable health improvements for all. NQF is a proud affiliate of The Joint Commission. Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.
