The Washington, D.C.-based National Quality Forum (NQF) has elected new leadership across four of its member councils: the Consumers Council, the Health Plan Council, the Purchaser Council, and the Supplier-Industry Council.
Tanya Alteras, MPP, is chair of the Consumer Council, which represents consumer advocacy organizations at the national, state, regional and local level by providing information, experience and perspectives of those receiving healthcare. She is deputy director for the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she supports consumer, employer, and labor organizations that are working to improve access to publicly reported health care performance information. Mary Lehman MacDonald, who is vice-chair, is director of the American Federation of Teachers Healthcare, where she is involved in the development of organizational policy related to health care.
Thomas James III, M.D., is chair of the Health Plan Council, which represents health care plans and organizations involved in the administration of health insurance programs. Dr. James is corporate medical director of AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies, where he is responsible for developing medical and health policies. Deborah J. Donovan, MLLS, RHIA, CPHQ, vice-chair, is director, provider performance strategy and innovations at Highmark Inc. where she is responsible for the development and implementation of provider care delivery models and quality improvement strategies. Her areas of focus include patient centered medical homes, accountable care organizations, pay for performance for hospital and physician, provider profiling, and provider transparency.
David S. P. Hopkins is chair of the Purchaser Council, which represents public purchasers, regional purchasing coalitions, corporations, and business groups, and provides a venue for public and private purchasers to build demand and capacity for quality improvement. Hopkins is senior advisor at the Pacific Business Group on Health, a business coalition of 50 large purchasers; and is also affiliated with the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research and the Center for Health Policy at Stanford University Medical School. Louise Probst, vice-chair, is executive director of the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, which represents St. Louis employers in their efforts to improve the health of their employees and the quality and affordability of healthcare.
Deborah L. Fritz, Ph.D., MPH, is chair of the Supplier-Industry Council, which includes consultants, manufacturers, service providers, and distributors of device and diagnostic products, medications, tools and other information and resources. Dr. Fritz is responsible for Quality and Performance Standards in the Public Policy Department Division of GlaxoSmithKline. Alicia De Stefano, MS, RN, CPHQ, vice-chair, is an associate director of the U.S. Strategy and Planning team at Merck and Company.
