Smile Digital Health is the first vendor to be validated by NCQA as qualified to run digital HEDIS measures with their dQM Solution.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / July 2, 2025 / Smile Digital Health (Smile), a leading Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR^®) health data platform and Clinical Quality Language (CQL) solutions provider, is proud to announce that the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has confirmed its dQM Solution successfully implements digital HEDIS^® (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) measures. As of this release, Smile has already received NCQA validation for 11 digital measures and has submitted 31 digital measures awaiting validation. Smile is the first and only organization to receive NCQA validation of its solution. This accomplishment verifies that Smile has demonstrated the ability to run NCQA Digital Content Services measures through their solution and produce accurate and consistent results, leveraging FHIR and CQL. U.S. payer organizations can now move forward with confidence in the parallel testing phase required for digital HEDIS reporting with the Smile dQM Solution.

"Validating measure engines for digital quality measures is a critical milestone on the journey toward a fully digital future," said Edward Yurcisin, Chief Technology Officer at NCQA. "It brings us one step closer to realizing digital HEDIS®, making measurement more efficient, accurate, timely, and foundational to accountable, high-quality care for all."

As the first to achieve validation, Smile is contributing key insights and expertise on best practices for digitizing HEDIS scores. As a user of Digital Content Services, Smile leverages digitized FHIR CQL HEDIS measures that help minimize programming and validation efforts and make HEDIS more accessible at all levels of healthcare. Smile is also playing a leading role in NCQA's Digital Quality Implementers Community, a collaborative consensus-based effort to develop, advance, and standardize tools and platforms, like CQL engines, that optimize digital quality measurement. Smile's involvement in these initiatives underscores the company's long-standing commitment to advancing healthcare quality standards.

Bryn Rhodes, Director of Standards Strategy at Smile Digital Health and technical lead of the Digital Quality Implementers Community (DQIC), highlights Smile's role in this initiative: "At Smile, we are passionate about advancing healthcare quality through innovation. As an NCQA validated vendor, we're excited to share our expertise in health data interoperability and digital quality measurement with the healthcare industry, contributing to a smoother transition toward digitized HEDIS scores. This initiative will enable better care outcomes and improve overall quality measurement processes."

NCQA's work on digitizing HEDIS scores aims to streamline the process of collecting and analyzing healthcare quality data. HEDIS, a critical tool for evaluating health plans and care providers, plays a central role in ensuring high standards of care across the U.S. The NCQA initiative to move to digital quality measures targeting 2030 will increase consistency and maximize flexibility and transparency in HEDIS performance measurements across individuals, organizations, and systems. It is a collaborative effort to enhance the quality of care provided to patients while introducing new opportunities for innovation.

Smile Digital Health is proud to support this evolution as the industry shifts towards more interoperable and efficient healthcare data management systems.

Rob Reynolds, VP of Clinical Intelligence at Smile Digital Health adds that "At the 2024 NCQA Health Innovation Summit during the Digital Quality Implementers Community discussion, when the panel was asked what was next, I responded, ‘I don't know about everyone else-but for Smile, what's next is we start running digital HEDIS.' Today, I'm proud to say that Smile delivered."

Smile Digital Health's validation by NCQA for digital HEDIS measures underscores the company's dedication to advancing healthcare quality measurement. Being the first to achieve this validation, Smile is positioning itself as a key player in the movement towards more precise, interoperable, and impactful healthcare data solutions.

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

About Smile Digital Health
Smile Digital Health is a FHIR®-first health data solutions company that provides the most advanced platform for managing and exchanging healthcare data. Smile helps healthcare organizations drive better patient outcomes, improve operational efficiency, and foster deeper collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem. Our enterprise-grade, open framework data platform drives data unification, enrichment, and elevation while ensuring compliance with industry mandates. We equip healthcare providers, payers, researchers, and life sciences organizations for a connected future beyond legacy systems, unlocking new value through the intelligent use of information, and creating #BetterGlobalHealth overall. For more information, visit SmileDigitalHealth.com or on LinkedIn.

About NCQA
NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA Accredits and Certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA's website (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make informed health care choices. NCQA can also be found at X @ncqa and on LinkedIn.

SOURCE: Smile CDR Inc. (doing business as Smile Digital Health)