Shaping the Future of the Healthcare Quality Profession

As the professional home to a growing number of healthcare professionals focused on the critical work of quality, NAHQ takes tremendous pride in maintaining a strong and clear pulse of the environment.

I want to thank all of you who participated in the recent quarterly pulse check survey, the ongoing opportunity for you to weigh in on the latest happenings in healthcare within your organization and your community. Forty-one (41) percent of respondents said their role is more valuable than before the pandemic began, up from 36% when we asked the same question of you all in August 2020. Nearly 70% of respondents believed demonstrating quality and safety competencies and skills will be even more valuable to their organizations over the next 6-12 months. All encouraging and affirming trends that tell me healthcare quality continues to take center stage at a critical time in history.  

NAHQ has also begun to formulate original research*, with its first focus being the work of those with the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality^® (CPHQ). The full findings will be published in the coming months, but I would like to share a few very exciting insights that probably come as no surprise to our nearly 13,000 CPHQs, many of whom were called upon in new and critical ways over the past year-plus amid the COVID-19 crisis: 

• CPHQs consistently report working at higher levels of competency than non-CPHQs in all eight domains of NAHQ’s Healthcare Quality Competency Framework. 
• CPHQs aspire to be thought leaders within the healthcare quality arena. Further, CPHQs spend more time on their professional development when compared to non-CPHQs. 
• CPHQs occupy the highest job levels in quality – Director, Executive Director, Vice President and above – twice as often as their non-CPHQ colleagues. 
• CPHQs report working at more advanced skill levels than non-CPHQs in all competencies within the Performance and Process Improvement (PPI) domain of the Healthcare Quality Competency Framework. 
• A higher proportion of CPHQs report working across six or seven domains of healthcare quality, compared to three or fewer domains as reported by a higher proportion of non-CPHQs. 

This research and future insights from NAHQ will no doubt help shape the future of the healthcare quality profession, and its critical place in making healthcare better. 

If you do not yet hold the CPHQ but are noticing its ability to help you showcase your knowledge of healthcare quality and commitment to the industry, I encourage you – as a fellow CPHQ since 2004 – to join our growing ranks.  

Thank you for all you are doing to support your organizations and your communities. Stay safe!

Marian Savage, PhD RN NEA-BC CPHQ PMP
NAHQ President

* Based on 1,671 responses to NAHQ’s Professional Assessment collected between 2019-2021. Seventy percent of responses were submitted after May 31, 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents are representative of NAHQ members, as well as professionals holding the CPHQ certification. This is the only quality workforce database describing levels of healthcare quality work currently performed by a large group of professionals relative to a standardized competency framework.