NCQA Names Dr. Ari Robicsek as Inaugural Chief Medical Officer

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Physician-scientist and healthcare analytics leader joins NCQA to advance digital quality measurement, data-driven innovation and patient-centered outcomes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / June 30, 2026 / The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today announced the appointment of Ari Robicsek, MD, as its inaugural Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Robicsek joined the organization on June 29, 2026, bringing more than two decades of experience at the intersection of clinical medicine, data science, healthcare analytics and innovation to deepen NCQA's clinical leadership and accelerate its quality modernization agenda.

"The creation of the CMO role reflects NCQA's commitment to meeting this moment in healthcare, as interoperable data, the rapid growth of AI and a shift toward outcomes that matter most to clinicians and patients continue to reshape the landscape," said Dr. Vivek Garg, NCQA President and CEO. "I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Robicsek to help lead this critical work. He is an accomplished physician-scientist whose experience building advanced analytics capabilities and translating data into actionable clinical insights makes him the ideal leader-not only to help us modernize quality measurement, but to define the next generation of digital, outcomes-focused quality infrastructure that better supports clinicians and patients."

Dr. Robicsek joins NCQA from Providence, where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Analytics & Research Officer. There he led the system's data science, product development and research teams, and spearheaded the Value-Oriented Architecture (VOA) initiative - a framework that uses sophisticated data science to identify and disseminate care delivery patterns that improve quality, efficiency and consistency at scale. During his time at Providence, he also established the Providence Clinical Innovation Institute, raising millions of dollars to test digital technology and new models of care.

"NCQA has spent more than three decades building the quality infrastructure that American healthcare depends on. That legacy is extraordinary, and it is what drew me to this role," said Dr. Robicsek. "I am joining at what I believe is a pivotal moment for NCQA and for healthcare. The convergence of interoperable data, digital measurement capabilities and advances in AI creates an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how we define, measure and improve quality. I am excited to help usher NCQA into a new era of quality measurement that is digitally enabled, scientifically rigorous, and, above all, more patient-centered."

Previously, Dr. Robicsek served as Vice President of Clinical Analytics and Associate Chief Medical Information Officer at NorthShore University HealthSystem, where his team received multiple national honors for information technology innovation. He is also the Founder and Chief Analytics & Research Officer of Arclight Intelligence, a healthcare innovation consulting firm.

A physician-scientist by training, Dr. Robicsek holds an MD from the University of Toronto and completed an Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He has authored and co-authored more than 130 academic publications with over 15,000 citations, including work published in Nature and JAMA. He is an inventor on patents related to clinical decision support systems.

About NCQA

NCQA is an independent nonprofit organization that defines and drives healthcare quality through accreditation, standards, performance measurement, and expert support. For more than 35 years, NCQA has advanced transparency, accountability, and enabled healthcare organizations to deliver better outcomes for patients. NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®1) is one of healthcare's most widely used performance improvement tools. Learn more at ncqa.org. Follow NCQA on X @ncqa and on LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/ncqa.

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1 HEDIS® is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

SOURCE: NCQA