Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger is one of three people to be honored by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health care quality.
Praeger is scheduled to be presented with a 2014 Health Quality Award at a Washington, D.C., banquet in April.
The other two honorees are:
• Dr. Carolyn Clancy, assistant deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Veterans Administration
• Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, professor of medical ethics and policy at the University of Pennsylvania
NCQA officials said Praeger was selected for the award because she has been an advocate for health care quality for more than 25 years:
“During her tenure as a Kansas State Senator and former state representative…she worked to gain passage of patient protection laws, external review of health plans and insurance, and the Kansas expansion of children’s health insurance.
“Praeger has been an incredible leader at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, as the past president of the organization and as the current chair of the Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee and Anti-fraud Task Force.”
The semi-annual award recognizes “those individuals who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to improving the quality of health care,” according to the non-profit organization’s website.
“I have worked with NCQA for many years and have enormous respect for the work they do regarding quality improvement in health care. This award from them is a huge honor and I am truly humbled by the recognition,” Praeger wrote in an email to KHI News Service.
Among other things, NCQA developed the so-called HEDIS standards to assess managed care organizations and it also certifies physicians as Patient-Centered Medical Homes. The organization was founded in 1990.
Previous award winners have included the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts; former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius; former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich; and Hillary Clinton.
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