National Quality Forum

What National Quality Forum does

National Quality Forum (NQF), founded in 1999 and headquartered in Washington, DC, is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that convenes multistakeholder consensus on healthcare quality measurement and improvement standards. Its functional role is to bring together providers, payers, purchasers, policymakers, and consumer advocates to forge agreement on quality measures, patient safety event definitions (notably the Serious Reportable Events List, first defined in 2002), and related measurement frameworks that are then adopted by accreditors, federal agencies, and states. For over 14 years, NQF led endorsement and maintenance of quality performance measures for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and since 2023 it has operated as a strategic affiliate of The Joint Commission, which accredits more than 23,000 healthcare organizations in the United States.

NQF's core outputs are consensus-based measurement frameworks and standards rather than software products. Its active portfolio includes the Outcomes-Driven Certification program (developed with Joint Commission and launched in 2025–2026 for Perinatal Care and Cardiac Surgeries), the Serious Reportable Events (SRE) List (comprehensively updated in 2025 and adopted by Joint Commission effective January 1, 2027), the AI in Healthcare Quality Measurement initiative (with public-comment draft report in September 2025), the Diagnostic Excellence Measurement initiative, the Aligned Innovation initiative (24-month accelerated measure development for maternal and behavioral health), the Focus on HARM initiative for harmonized safety event reporting, and the Advancing Collection of Standardized Symptoms Data initiative (with the American Medical Association and Health Level Seven International). Supporting infrastructure includes a Knowledge Library, public comment periods, expert panels (e.g., a Technical Expert Panel on AI in Quality Measures with 70+ experts engaged on the SRE update), and the NQF Leadership Consortium for members.

NQF generates revenue through a tiered annual membership dues structure ($500–$19,700 depending on organization type and size, plus a $250 two-year individual Expert Faculty tier) and project-based funding from named sponsors including CMS, Elevance Health, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Membership is sold to healthcare providers, payers and purchasers, public agencies, and consumers, with additional reach delivered through the Joint Commission affiliation and standards-adoption by 30+ states. As a not-for-profit, NQF does not publicly disclose revenue; based on a 51–100 employee footprint, dues structure, and project funding mix, annual operating revenue is estimated in the $10M–$25M band.

Name

National Quality Forum

Legal name

National Quality Forum

Website

https://qualityforum.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

National Quality Forum is a not-for-profit, membership-based convener that builds multistakeholder consensus on healthcare quality measurement standards for providers, payers, purchasers, policymakers, and consumers, operating as a Joint Commission affiliate since 2023.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Quality Measurement Standards

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Quality Measurement, Reporting & Benchmarking (HEDIS/Stars/CQM) (HLACAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Value-Based Contracting Analytics (ACO/MSSP/MA, shared savings/risk) (HLACAHAA), Data Governance, Standards & Interoperability (ICD, HL7/FHIR, LOINC, SNOMED) (HLAJAJAM)

Keywords

• Healthcare quality measurement
• Consensus-based standards
• Patient safety events
• Measure endorsement
• Accreditation certification

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: NQF generates revenue through membership dues paid by healthcare organizations, professional associations, payers, purchasers, policymakers, and public health agencies. Dues are structured based on annual operating expenses or size of population served, ranging from $500 to $19,700 annually.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

NQF convenes multistakeholder groups across the healthcare ecosystem to develop consensus-based quality measurement standards, performance measures, and patient safety frameworks for use by providers, payers, purchasers, and regulators. Its flagship deliverables include the Serious Reportable Events (SRE) List, the Outcomes-Driven Certification program developed jointly with The Joint Commission, and various measurement initiatives (AI in Quality Measures, Diagnostic Excellence, Aligned Innovation, Focus on HARM). Revenue is generated primarily through tiered annual membership dues.

Product overview

National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit healthcare quality measurement organization that serves as a consensus-builder, bringing together stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem to forge agreement on quality measurement and improvement standards. NQF's portfolio consists primarily of consensus-based measurement frameworks and certification programs rather than traditional software products. The core offering includes the Outcomes-Driven Certification program (developed with Joint Commission) that shifts from process-focused to outcomes-driven certification; the Serious Reportable Events (SRE) List as a standardized patient safety event framework; and various measurement initiatives including AI in Quality Measures, Diagnostic Excellence Measurement, and Aligned Innovation for accelerated measure development. NQF also provides membership access to resources including the Knowledge Library, Leadership Consortium, webinars, and committee participation. The organization operates as an affiliate of The Joint Commission, with a strategic partnership enabling deployment of measures at scale.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Outcomes-Driven Certification A next-generation certification program developed jointly by Joint Commission and NQF that shifts from process-heavy assessments to outcomes-driven performance measurement, enabling providers to demonstrate performance excellence through measurement solutions addressing what matters most to patients and clinicians.
• Serious Reportable Events (SRE) List A consensus-based list of patient safety events that are serious, largely preventable, and indicative of problems with a healthcare setting's safety systems, used by more than 30 states and hundreds of healthcare organizations for required or voluntary reporting.
• AI in Quality Measures An initiative developing guidance for quality measures incorporating AI methods (NLP, machine learning, large language models) for use in accreditation, pay-for-performance, public reporting, and value-based payment programs.
• Advancing Measurement of Diagnostic Excellence for Better Healthcare An initiative that develops solutions to persistent measurement challenges hindering efforts to strengthen the quality and accuracy of the diagnostic process.
• Advancing Collection of Standardized Symptoms Data An initiative that standardizes patient symptom data to improve diagnostic quality and reduce errors, working with the American Medical Association (AMA) through HL7 standards development.
• Aligned Innovation A multistakeholder initiative designed to accelerate next-generation outcome measures and methods to support value-based payment, improve population health, and advance health outcomes on a 24-month accelerated timeline.
• Focus on HARM (Harmonizing Accountability in Reporting and Monitoring) An initiative driving sustainable reduction of preventable harm through standardized patient safety event reporting and harmonized reporting taxonomies, establishing a consensus-based unified framework for healthcare harms.
• Updating the Serious Reportable Events (SRE) List An initiative that developed a unified, consensus-based updated list of Serious Reportable Events reflecting today's full range of care delivery settings and modalities.
• NQF Membership An organization membership program for healthcare stakeholders including providers, payers, purchasers, policymakers, and consumer advocates, offering learning opportunities, exclusive activities, priority committee placement, executive updates, and access to NQFNow weekly digest.
• NQF Leadership Consortium An exclusive member forum designed to elevate voices and identify meaningful issues that drive change in healthcare, bringing together multistakeholder leaders for prioritization and implementation of actionable recommendations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced reporting burden for clinicians, hospitals, and health systems through alignment of SRE and Sentinel Events lists
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and notable.

• Joint CommissionflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerNQF is a proud affiliate of The Joint Commission. Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare, evaluating more than 23,000 healthcare organizations. The strategic affiliation enhances healthcare quality, safety, equity, and affordability through aligned measure development and deployment. Joint Commission enables NQF's measures and measure sets to be implemented at scale in Joint Commission's outcomes-focused Accreditation and Certification programs.
• Coalition for Health AI (CHAI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint Commission and CHAI announced a partnership in June to create a suite of AI playbooks and tools, and a new certification program rooted in Joint Commission's platform for evidence-based standards and CHAI's consensus-based best practices for health AI.
• Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint Commission partnered with STS for the new Outcomes-Driven Certification in Cardiac Surgeries and Procedures, enabling organizations to use data they already report to STS's nationally recognized registry.
• American College of Cardiology (ACC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint Commission partnered with ACC for the new Outcomes-Driven Certification in Cardiac Surgeries and Procedures, leveraging established clinical registries to reduce reporting burden while strengthening data integrity.
• American Medical Association (AMA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNQF is working with AMA to engage physicians early in the standards development life cycle for collecting and sharing patient symptom data in clinical care. NQF facilitates consensus on key terms, attributes, and characteristics that support sharing of symptom data.
• Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic ExcellencenotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence at Johns Hopkins University seeks to raise public awareness of diagnostic errors and implement solutions. NQF collaborated with this Center's team members on the Advancing Measurement of Diagnostic Excellence for Better Healthcare initiative.
• UCSF Coordinating Center for Diagnostic Excellence (CODEX)notableStrategic or Co-development PartnerUCSF CODEX serves as a national coordinating entity in the field of diagnostic excellence, functioning as a steward to expand and connect the diagnostic community. NQF team members presented at the DEX24 Conference hosted by UCSF CODEX.
• Health Level Seven International (HL7)coreTechnology or IntegrationNQF brings key symptom data standards recommendations through the HL7 standards development process to develop and refine interoperability artifacts. HL7 creates global standards for exchanging medical information that allows healthcare systems to communicate with one another.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• URAC: URAC is an independent, not-for-profit accreditor that develops quality standards and accredits healthcare organizations across many of the same verticals NQF serves (payers, providers, specialty programs). It competes for accreditation programs and standards recognition.
• Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC): AAAHC accredits ambulatory and office-based healthcare organizations and develops related quality standards. It overlaps with NQF/Joint Commission in setting expectations for ambulatory care quality and patient safety.
• The Leapfrog Group: Leapfrog is a not-for-profit watchdog that collects and publicizes hospital quality and safety data, including the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. It overlaps with NQF in establishing transparency and consensus-based quality measurement for purchasers and consumers.
• National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA): NCQA is a not-for-profit that develops and maintains quality measures (most notably HEDIS) and accredits healthcare plans and providers. It is the most direct competitor to NQF in quality measurement endorsement and is similarly relied upon by CMS and commercial payers.
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI): IHI is a not-for-profit that drives healthcare quality improvement through innovation, training, and convening. It is highly comparable to NQF in its multistakeholder approach to advancing quality standards and is a frequent collaborator in the same space.

Broad incumbents

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): AHRQ is the federal agency that funds and develops patient safety and quality measurement tools (e.g., Patient Safety Indicators). It is a peer and frequent funder/partner in the same policy and measurement ecosystem NQF operates in.
• Premier Inc. Premier is a healthcare improvement company that operates a performance services platform and collaboratives for hospitals, with deep quality measurement and benchmarking capabilities. It competes in value-based performance analytics where NQF's measures are deployed.
• Press Ganey: Press Ganey is a large patient experience and healthcare quality measurement vendor. It uses standardized survey instruments and quality benchmarks that overlap with NQF's consensus measurement work, particularly for patient-reported outcomes.
• The Joint Commission: NQF's parent affiliate and the nation's largest healthcare accreditor, covering 23,000+ organizations. It is both a partner and a partial overlap in setting healthcare quality and safety standards, and is the principal distribution channel for NQF-developed measures.

Emerging players

• Health Catalyst: Health Catalyst provides data and analytics platforms used by health systems to measure and improve quality and cost outcomes. While for-profit and technology-led, it addresses the same downstream use case of NQF measures by enabling analytics on quality performance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/natqualityforum
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/The-Joint-Commission/104533371063
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/national-quality-forum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Quality Forum