NCQA: Accelerating Health Equity Outcomes

From the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Health Equity Director Bryan O. Buckley DrPH, MPH joins the podcast to share his story and efforts to progress health equity for disadvantaged families across the US.

NCQA is committed to evolving equity in healthcare through services, programs and next generation accreditations aimed at supporting Health Plans, Healthcare, Government and Employers.

On this episode we discuss…

  1. NCQA’s programs that outline how healthcare professionals can improve equity at practices and clinics
  2. The evolution of health equity and why equity is vital to the healthcare ecosystem
  3. How the team at NCQA organizes and reaches their goals

“Think of it like a Justice League. We have so many superheroes involved within our company. Look at them as the health equity champions to help coalesce the work that’s being done in each unit or division, and that in many ways is how we build up our team. Don’t think of it so much as a team, but I like to think of myself as the watchtower really helping to be a space for people to co-collaborate, talk shop, talk about the challenges that we see from different stakeholders and also think about who do we need to partner with, who’s missing at the table and so forth. And so that would be how I define the health equity team. It’s many different people involved in many different departments, really building on that collective intelligence we all need to truly make health equity sustain itself moving forward,” said Buckley.

Dr. Bryan Buckley is a healthcare professional and researcher and is also the Director of Health Equity Initiatives at the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Buckley started his career in equity in public health and is a graduate of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Michigan State University.

Recent Episodes

In today’s world, where instant delivery and ride-sharing are everyday norms, healthcare access still lags behind. Patients now wait an average of 31 days to see a specialist in major U.S. cities—a 19 percent jump since 2022—according to AMN Healthcare’s 2025 survey. The stakes are high: delays can lead to worsening conditions, increased ER visits,…

In this episode of Care Anywhere: The Global Health Workforce Podcast, host Lea Sims welcomes Geoffrey M. Roche, SVP of Healthcare Solutions at Risepoint and a lifelong advocate for healthcare workforce development. With a career shaped by his mother’s journey as a nurse, Geoff shares how personal inspiration, industry insight, and bold leadership are reshaping…

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming healthcare diagnostics, with some of the most promising breakthroughs happening in cardiology. Structural heart disease affects millions and frequently goes undiagnosed in its early stages, leaving patients vulnerable to serious complications. One such condition, severe aortic stenosis, often remains unnoticed until it becomes life-threatening—carrying a two-year mortality rate worse…