Quarter 3: Health Equity Accreditation Town Hall

As an organization committed to advancing health equity, we invite you to our next quarterly Town Hall where you can engage with resident experts of NCQA’s Health Equity Accreditation Program. This special session will allow you to connect, share insights, and engage in meaningful discussions to help drive your success with Health Equity Accreditation.

During the live event, topics will include:

• Welcome Remarks 
• PCS Frequently Ask Questions
  
• Standards & Guidance Updates
• Town Hall Q&A

We encourage you to come prepared with questions. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask NCQA staff any pressing questions or share concerns during the Town Hall. 

Who Should Attend:

• Health Plans
• Health Systems
• Hospitals
• Accountable Care Orgs
• Providers
• Managed Behavioral Healthcare Orgs
• Population Health Orgs
• Wellness Orgs
• Leveragers in the Federal Government, States and Employers 

Continuing Education:

This is a non AMA PRA Category 1 Credit^TM, ANA CNE, ACPE activity.
 Certificate of Participation awarded

Faculty

Jessica Thomas, DrPH

Jessica Thomas joined NCQA in January 2025 as Assistant Vice President of Evaluation Product Delivery. In her role, she is focused on providing strategic direction and expertise on the development and implementation of operational functions to support accreditation and recognition products. Thomas most recently worked as the Director of Quality for Independent Health, a regional community-based health plan in Western New York. She has decades of experience in all aspects of QM/QI, as well as process development, regulatory oversight, accreditation and performance management. Thomas has been widely successful in building strategic plans for clinical integration and quality performance across many systems. Dr. Thomas holds a B.A. in Biology, as well as a Masters and Doctorate in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology.

Meghan Monahan, JD

Meghan Monahan is currently an Accreditation Policy Manager at the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Ms. Monahan serves as the policy co-lead for the Health Equity Accreditation and Health Equity Accreditation Plus products and is a member of NCQA’s Health Equity Agile Team. In this capacity, Ms. Monahan

is the policy and content expert for NCQA’s health equity products and is responsible for maintaining and updating these products during NCQA’s development cycles. Ms. Monahan is also responsible for providing policy clarification support on content-related issues for internal and external customers.

 Prior to joining NCQA, Ms. Monahan has worked in both the public and private sectors monitoring and analyzing health care policy at the state and federal level with a particular interest in health equity issues. Ms. Monahan earned her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 2017 and is licensed to practice law in Maryland.

Joel Nellis, MPH

Joel W. Nellis is currently Senior Manager, Accreditation Policy at the National Committee for Quality Assurance. In this position, Mr. Nellis has served as subject matter expert for NCQA products such as Health Equity Accreditation and Health Plan Accreditation and supports NCQA customers in all products through the Policy Clarification and Support system. In this role he has also facilitated regular policy updates and contributed to update to the requirements.

Prior to joining NCQA, Mr. Nellis managed the NCQA Accreditation program at San Francisco Health Plan in San Francisco, CA, where he was responsible for leading NCQA Health Plan Accreditation and Health Equity Accreditation efforts for the Medicaid health plan.

Mr. Nellis’ health plan experience is extensive. He has held positions at several local Medicaid health plans in Northern and Southern California.

Mr. Nellis earned his MPH from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mimi Asafo-Adjei, MPH

Mimi Asafo-Adjei is a dynamic health care quality enthusiast dedicated to advancing the quality of health care for all.

She is currently a Senior Accreditation Manager at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). In this position, Ms. Asafo-Adjei leads and supports corporate organizations through NCQA’s accreditation and certification processes. She is engaged in developing and refining policies and procedures, adjudicating matters related to corporate survey processes, and assessing health plans, health systems, community-based organizations and various types of health care organizations seeking NCQA accreditation.

Ms. Asafo-Adjei also serves as a subject matter expert on the operations, review and implementation of NCQA’s Health Equity Accreditation program.

Prior to her work in accreditation, Ms. Asafo-Adjei was a Health Care Analyst in NCQA’s Quality Measurement & Research department where she provided research and writing support on health equity incubator projects by CMS Office of Minority Health.

Ms. Asafo-Adjei earned her MPH degree from The University of Texas Health Science Center and earned her BSc in Health Sciences from Drexel University.

DISCLOSURE OF RELEVANT FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) endorses the Standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education which specify that sponsors of continuing medical education activities and presenters at and planners for these activities disclose any relevant financial relationships either party might have with commercial companies whose products or services are discussed in educational presentations.

For sponsors, relevant financial relationships include large research grants, institutional agreements for joint initiatives, substantial gifts, or other relationships that benefit the institution.  For presenters or planning committee members, relevant financial relationships include the receipt of research grants from a commercial company, consultancies, honoraria, travel, or other benefits, or having a self-managed equity interest in a company; or having an immediate family member or partner with such a relationship.

Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone bias in any presentation but is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Relevant financial relationships exist with the following companies/organizations:

Faculty
Jessica Thomas:  None
Meghan Monahan: None
Joel Nellis: None
Mimi Asafo-Adjei: None

Additional Planning Committee Member:
Crissy Crittenden: None

This program was developed in part by NCQA staff.
This program received no commercial support.