Dana Gelb Safran Taking Helm of National Quality Forum at ‘Critically Important Time’ | Healthcare Innovation
The National Quality Forum (NQF) has named Dana Gelb Safran, Ph.D., as its new president and CEO, replacing Shantanu Agrawal, M.D., who left the position six months ago to become chief health officer at Anthem Inc., the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The nonprofit NQF develops measures and standards for initiatives to enhance healthcare value, make patient care safer, and achieve better outcomes.
Safran served 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 served as a model for public and private payers nationwide in the shift toward value-based payment. She has authored more than 85 peer-reviewed scientific articles on quality measurement, payment reform, healthcare disparities, and the use of behavioral economics to improve health outcomes and spending.
She was also a founding member of the executive team at Haven, a joint venture of major healthcare purchasers Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President, Value Based Care and Population Health at Well Health Inc.
She has held a broad range of advisory roles in the public sector supporting efforts to improve health and healthcare and evaluating the appropriate role of quality measurement. Since 2017, she has served as a commissioner of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).
In published remarks, Interim President and CEO Chris Queram said, “In my time leading NQF, I have come to believe that the next CEO would ideally be a recognized, respected, and accomplished leader with a deep understanding of the organizations, agencies, and individuals that comprise the measurement enterprise. Dana Gelb Safran fits that description perfectly. She possesses the vision, stature, expertise, and temperament to guide NQF to its rightful role at the center of our country’s quest for better health and healthcare value.”
“I am honored to join the NQF team at this critically important time. The role of quality measurement in U.S. healthcare has never been more important,” said Safran, in a statement. “The country’s continued shift toward value-based payment demands a next generation of performance measures in order to deliver on payment reform’s promise of better quality, better health, and increased affordability. In addition, the profound health inequities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic demand urgent action, and measurement will play a central role in efforts to make progress toward equity. NQF’s history of bringing together public and private sector stakeholders is a tremendous platform from which to build and execute on this important and expanded set of priorities,” she added.