New MHA Committee Helps Strengthen Quality And Safety Performance Across Missouri’s Care Settings

As Missouri’s hospitals navigate the health care landscape and conduct continuous improvement cycles to meet the needs of patients and communities, the Missouri Hospital Association is taking an important step to support its members in these challenges.

MHA established its Quality and Safety Committee, made up of clinical and operational leaders from Missouri’s hospitals and health systems, in the fall of 2025 and convened the first in-person meeting in March 2026.

The committee’s purpose is to guide and align quality and safety improvement efforts for hospitals around the state and build off the work of two former MHA committees — the Strategic Quality Advisory Committee (established in 2014) and the Health Equity Committee (established in 2020).

“Aligning the work of both committees under one effort is creating greater collaboration for members and their care teams as inpatient quality improvement and community-facing health improvement efforts overlap,” said Jackie Gatz, MHA’s senior vice president of quality, safety and research.

A Focused, Strategic First Year

MHA’s Quality and Safety Committee will prioritize the following focus areas in the first year:

• establish and monitor quality key performance indicators that align with MHA’s 2026-2028 strategic plan
• identify variations in care — using available data resources by geography, population and care setting — to develop hospital-centric interventions aimed at reducing variations in care, addressing nonclinical risk factors and improving health
• guide data-driven discussions that include developing board-level templates as well as supporting compliance, transparency and peer benchmarking
• promote a culture of safety through education and shared learning
• evaluate new care delivery models to support care coordination, improve health and reduce costs
• leverage established MHA committees, grant-funded work plans and existing hospital initiatives to enhance committee goals

The committee’s work is centered on data and the environment in which Missouri hospitals deliver care.

“This includes trends we can glean from claims data reported through the Hospital Industry Data Institute and quality improvement process measures collected through the National Healthcare Safety Network, as well as new and emerging regulatory requirements,” said Shephali Wulff, D.O., system vice president and chief quality officer at SSM Health and committee chair. “For example, with direction from the committee, staff will evaluate hospital performance against Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Star Ratings to support member quality strategy and improvement efforts.”

Once the framework for the key performance indicators is finalized, the committee will guide staff in prioritizing specific quality-improvement resources and member-engagement opportunities.

Collaborative Work

A core strength of the Quality and Safety Committee is its connection to the work already happening across Missouri’s hospitals and within MHA’s Quality, Safety and Research division.

In addition to reporting updates to the MHA Board of Trustees and developing templates for member hospitals to provide to their boards, the committee will collaborate closely with MHA groups such as the Maternal-Child Learning and Action Network, Patient and Family Advisory Council and Diabetes Shared Learning Network.

“These work groups will advance committee discussion and inform committee strategies that strengthen alignment among established, complementary efforts,” said Jenna Hicks, MBA, BSN, B.S., R.N., director of quality and population health at Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, Mo., and vice chair of the committee.

MHA will support member hospitals through technical assistance and educational offerings based upon the committee’s guidance. Quality leaders from Missouri hospitals can expect committee updates, as appropriate through MHA’s quality and safety newsletter. Not currently receiving this publication? Subscribe by contacting Jada Schwartz at jschwartz@mohospitals.org.