URAC’s Shawn Griffin joins NQF committee on rural telehealth

URAC president and CEO, Shawn Griffin, will join the National Quality Forum’s Rural Telehealth and Health Care System Readiness Committee from February 2021 into spring 2022.

This multi-stakeholder committee aims to develop a measurement framework to assess the impact of telehealth on rural health care systems, including those that serve rural-dwelling Native Americans.

Griffin is among the health care experts who have been chosen to work on this critical issue that is of increasing importance for the health of our nation and is the sole representative from an accrediting organization on the committee.

Telehealth offers tremendous possibility of increasing access for individuals in underserved areas, including rural and frontier areas. Additionally, telehealth is a critical component in managing health security threats. As the COVID-19 emergency has shown, there is a clear link between telehealth and the delivery of health care in emergency situations. This NQF working committee aims to identify measures that will reflect health care system readiness.

Griffin’s role on the committee reflects URAC’s commitment to directly addressing the challenges of health equity. His appointment to the committee reflects Griffin’s deep knowledge of the particular issues that face rural communities and his extensive experience with health care technology.

“I am honored to be a part of the valuable work NQF is leading so that we are able to ready our rural areas for the benefits telehealth can bring. As a rural health care provider for much of my early career, I am able to see how technology allows both increased and more immediate access to care for patients whose geographic location does not always allow them to receive primary or specialty care when they need it the most,” said Griffin. “URAC shares NQF’s goal of addressing the health care disparities that face Americans in rural areas, especially those individuals who live on Native American reservations.”