In this episode, we sit down with NCQA leaders Stacy Grundy, Rachel Harrington and Kristine Toppe for a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming Health Quality Forum 2025, and a discussion about the complexities and possibilities of modern health care, with a focus on data sharing and strategies to address health inequities.

Learn about data-driven collaborations in states like Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, where public agencies, health systems and community groups are uniting to improve outcomes.

And get an inside look at our hands-on workshops on NCQA Health Equity Accreditation and Virtual Care Accreditation, designed to give professionals at the leading edge of virtual services the tools they need to help reduce disparities.

The conversation and conference highlight stories of how virtual care is dissolving data silos and transforming maternal health in states like Arkansas. The emphasis of this episode—and the forum—is on curating diverse voices not often featured at national meetings. The common thread: Moving beyond identifying problems to showcase solutions that work.

Key Quote:

“ Data for the sake of data doesn’t help anybody. If it just sits there and you pat yourself on the back, ‘I’ve got this sitting in my database’;  that doesn’t help.  What you do with it, matters.

We have a couple of sessions  digging into  innovating to address health disparities, talking about  analytics  to understand  populations and how to address interventions. Also, we have  sessions  focused on creating equitable systems of care for populations with disabilities.

Understanding where  unmet needs are, how to  make things accessible, make things usable—data is part of that. It’s understanding who, what, when, where and how to take what you’re sitting on in your organization and understand it  so you can improve care.”

 Rachel Harrington

Time Stamps:

• (00:43) What’s Different About the Health Quality Forum
• (03:40) An Expanded, Regional Lens on Quality 
• (6:09) How NCQA Sees Data and Interoperability Differently 
• (10:38) Improving Care in Rural Areas 
• (16:04)  How-to Workshops on NCQA Accreditation
• (17:55) Personal Highlights at the Forum 

Links:

Register for the 2025 NCQA Health Forum

Connect with Stacy Grundy

Connect with Rachel Harrington

Connect with Kristine Toppe