This emphasis on quality has also focused attention on preventive services as an important component of a comprehensive health plan. Defining quality has been difficult for the experts and communicating quality to the public is a greater challenge. They are governed by a Board of Directors that includes employers, consumer and labor representatives, health plans, quality experts, regulators, and representatives from organized medicine. The NCQA Board's stated mission is providing information that enables purchasers and consumers of managed health care to distinguish among plans based on quality, thereby allowing them to make more informed decisions. The accreditation process designates whether a plan has structures and systems in place to deliver good care.
Most states require accreditation by some major agency or organization.
The performance measurement attempts to report if a plan meets important care and service objectives. Preventive services are among these measures. Historically, NCQA administered accreditation and performance measurement as separate programs. Future accreditation requirements are to include performance measurements in its report card. The effectiveness of care domain includes preventive services such as childhood and adolescent immunization status, breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, counseling against smoking, eye exam for patients with Diabetes Mellitus, and flu shots for the elderly.