Welcome to "Quality Matters," the podcast where we unpack the complexities of modern healthcare to shape a brighter future. Join us as we delve into the dynamic world of healthcare quality and innovation, exploring topics such as digital transformation, health equity, and quality standards.
Each episode brings together thought leaders, industry experts, and innovators to discuss the latest trends, best practices, and challenges shaping the future of healthcare. With a focus on convening voices from across the industry, "Quality Matters" provides a platform for meaningful conversations and collaboration.
Whether you're a health plan leader, a health IT professional, or simply someone passionate about improving healthcare outcomes, tune in to gain valuable insights and actionable strategies for driving positive change in healthcare delivery.
Because when it comes to healthcare, quality truly matters. Join us on "Quality Matters" as we shape tomorrow's healthcare today.
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Welcome to "Quality Matters," the podcast where we unpack the complexities of modern healthcare to shape a brighter future. Join us as we delve into the dynamic world of healthcare quality and innovation, exploring topics such as digital transformation, health equity, and quality standards.
Each episode brings together thought leaders, industry experts, and innovators to discuss the latest trends, best practices, and challenges shaping the future of healthcare. With a focus on convening voices from across the industry, "Quality Matters" provides a platform for meaningful conversations and collaboration.
Whether you're a health plan leader, a health IT professional, or simply someone passionate about improving healthcare outcomes, tune in to gain valuable insights and actionable strategies for driving positive change in healthcare delivery.
Because when it comes to healthcare, quality truly matters. Join us on "Quality Matters" as we shape tomorrow's healthcare today.
Dr. Troyen Brennan, former Chief Medical Officer at CVS Health and Aetna, joins NCQA President Peggy O’Kane to discuss Troy’s new book, Wonderful and Broken, and the future of primary care in a value-based world. With a career spanning academic and corporate medicine, Troy offers a rare 360° view of health care’s structural challenges and its most promising reforms.
In this episode of Quality Talks, Kate Hobbs, CEO of Author Health, delivers a compelling and insightful look at what works in behavioral healthcare—and how we can fix what’s broken. Drawing from deep experience in value-based care and behavioral health systems, Kate outlines a practical framework for improving outcomes and expanding access. She makes her most thorough and impassioned case for payment reform.
Anna Taylor—Associate Vice President of Population Health and Value-Based Care at MultiCare Connected Care—untangles the barriers holding back American health care. She explores the outdated workflows and perfectionist mindsets that stifle progress, while spotlighting the promise of digital transformation and value-based care. Drawing on her hands-on experience engineering change, Anna explores how better data, smarter systems and a willingness to embrace imperfection can unlock a future where quality and patient outcomes come first.
AI strategist Josh Wymer joins Quality Matters to explore how Missouri is building a smarter, health care system. He explains why artificial intelligence is a means—not the mission—and how cross-agency collaboration, workforce readiness and citizen-centered design are driving sustainable innovation.
Dr. Marc Overhage—a longtime leader in health care technology and policy—dissects persistent design flaws in health care and outlines a pragmatic, positive vision for building better quality into care delivery. From overcoming fragmented systems and misaligned incentives, to rethinking the logistics of hospital care and clinical decision support, Marc translates his decades of experience across clinical care, health IT and payer organizations into a practical, optimistic path to better care.
Data interoperability expert John D’Amore joins Quality Matters to explore the deeper purpose behind the push for data quality. He explains why interoperability is a tool—not the goal—and how financial incentives tied to quality measurement are driving meaningful reform.
Dr. Farzad Mostashari, CEO of Aledade, Inc., joins NCQA’s Peggy O’Kane to unpack why US health care struggles to improve and how we can fix it. From Medicare reform to AI in care delivery, Farzad shares bold ideas and his “Core 4” framework for better primary care and accountability. Insightful, candid and surprisingly fun.
CQL and FHIR are often name-dropped in health care tech. But what do they actually mean for your organization? Host Andy Reynolds is joined by Bryn Rhodes and Rob Reynolds of Smile Digital Health to bust myths, share real-world applications and outline how these standards enable better business outcomes and innovation across health care.
In this episode of Quality Talks, host Peggy O’Kane, president and founder of NCQA, sits down with Susan Dentzer, president and CEO of America’s Physician Groups, to explore the promise and pitfalls of value-based care—especially through the lens of Medicare Advantage.
Dentzer, a leading voice in health policy, explains how physician groups in two-sided risk arrangements are delivering better outcomes and lower costs, not just for Medicare Advantage patients but for traditional Medicare beneficiaries as well. She breaks down the mechanics of two-sided risk, the barriers to broader adoption and why Medicare Advantage remains both a success story and a lightning rod for criticism.
Dr. Richard Bergenstal joins Quality Matters to discuss the evolution of diabetes care—from the A1C era to the rise of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). He explains how CGM empowers patients, why new metrics like the Glucose Management Indicator (GMI) and Time in Range matter and how quality measurement supports a patient-centered approach to care.
In this episode of Quality Talks With Peggy O’Kane, NCQA President Peggy O’Kane sits down with Dr. Will Shrank, Venture Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, for a dynamic conversation on building a more cohesive health care system. They explore how aligning incentives, streamlining quality measurement and empowering primary care can drive better outcomes. Will shares his vision for “systemness”—integrating care, data, and payment—and makes the case for rethinking reimbursement and reducing waste.
NCQA unveils a new HEDIS® measure to modernize tobacco use screening and efforts to help users quit. HEDIS experts Jules Reich and Grace Glennon explain what health plans and providers need to know ahead of the 2026 rollout. Discover how the ECDS reporting method—for this and other HEDIS measures—contributes to a healthier country.
This episode of Quality Matters explores two key trends in behavioral health: measurement-informed care and peer support. We discuss how these strategies improve patient outcomes, enhance engagement and address access gaps. Learn about the benefits of frequent progress-checks and the power of lived experience—and how they are changing behavioral healthcare.
What if the treatments we rely on most aren’t helping? In this episode of Quality Talks with Peggy O’Kane, cardiologist and researcher Dr. Rita Redberg challenges some of the most deeply held assumptions in US health care.
Asthma affects 24 million Americans. Half of them live with uncontrolled symptoms. In this episode, Tonya Winders, President and CEO of the Global Allergy and Airways Patient Platform, joins us to explore why accurate diagnosis remains elusive, and what high-quality, patient-centered asthma care requires.
In the debut episode of Quality Talks With Peggy O’Kane, Dr. Sachin Jain confronts the structural problems of US health care, and offers bold, clear-eyed ideas on how to build on what works, how to be honest about what’s broken—and how to jumpstart real change.
Why isn't health care better at getting better? Join Peggy O'Kane, founder and outgoing president of NCQA, as Quality Talks tackles this critical question. This engaging, limited-series podcast brings together health care's most innovative thinkers and doers to explore powerful ideas and real solutions needed to transform care. If you're ready to reimagine costs, quality and care delivery, tune in to discover the future.
In this second installment of the Quality Matters series on recommendations to the Trump administration, Ryan Howells, of Leavitt Partners, outlines a bold vision for digital quality transformation in health care. He discusses how scalable APIs and internet-based standards can modernize data exchange, reduce administrative waste and improve care coordination. The conversation highlights that technology alone isn’t enough: Trust between payers and providers is essential to drive real change. Howells introduces the concept of “tables of trust” as a foundation for collaboration, starting at the state level and scaling nationally.
NCQA's point person for Federal policy, Eric Musser, returns to Quality Matters to discuss NCQA’s recommendations to the Trump administration, focusing on care integration and value-based care. Topics include fighting fragmentation in care delivery and data management, expanding Medicare's value-based care models, leveraging AI for dynamic care plans, prioritizing patient-generated data, and promoting data exchange in Medicare Advantage. Learn how these ideas could improve health care quality and patient outcomes.
In this special “Best Of” episode of Quality Matters, we revisit three insightful conversations to answer a big question: What do we know about the economics of health care, and how can we make substantial, sustainable improvements? Health economist Sanjula Jain challenges conventional value-based care models, advocating instead for a more patient-centered approach: “value for money.” Brittany Cunningham shares how Vanderbilt’s University Medical Center’s My Health Bundles are redesigning care delivery to reduce costs and improve outcomes. And obstetrician Tiffany Inglis reveals how a unique provider support model is transforming maternal care for every one in eight US births. Together, these stories offer an optimistic path toward a more sustainable and effective health care system.
Welcome to "Quality Matters," the podcast where we unpack the complexities of modern healthcare to shape a brighter future. Join us as we delve into the dynamic world of healthcare quality and innovation, exploring topics such as digital transformation, health equity, and quality standards.
Each episode brings together thought leaders, industry experts, and innovators to discuss the latest trends, best practices, and challenges shaping the future of healthcare. With a focus on convening voices from across the industry, "Quality Matters" provides a platform for meaningful conversations and collaboration.
Whether you're a health plan leader, a health IT professional, or simply someone passionate about improving healthcare outcomes, tune in to gain valuable insights and actionable strategies for driving positive change in healthcare delivery.
Because when it comes to healthcare, quality truly matters. Join us on "Quality Matters" as we shape tomorrow's healthcare today.