By Susan Gaffney, Vice President, Membership, Development and Operations, and Bob Scott, Associate Director, Membership and Operations

One of the signature benefits of membership in the National Health Council (NHC) is the Standards of Excellence Certification Program^® for patient advocacy organizations. These 38 standards articulate what it means to operate transparently and with the highest integrity. The process of aligning with the Standards can be compared to a fitness regimen – the thought of it may not seem enticing – but you feel great once its complete and you can’t argue with the good results!

Since the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020, the NHC has taken a lighter touch with the Standards program. We did this intentionally to offer our members a little bit of extra room to handle the myriad new challenges they were facing. As we all begin charting the course of the “new normal,” the NHC will re-focus attention and technical assistance for members on the Standards certification program in 2022.

Throughout 2022, the NHC will engage member organizations and other sector experts in a review of the Standards to ensure they reflect the current and emerging practices that govern nonprofits today.

Additionally, for all patient advocacy organization members, the certification process will be streamlined to make it more useful to your work and allow the NHC team to create metrics to assess implementation and value to members. Our goal is to make the Standards criteria clearer and less cumbersome for members and provide opportunities to celebrate the success of alignment with the NHC Standards of Excellence to enhance member organizations reputations.

We look forward to collaborating on this important effort in 2022! Questions? Please contact membership@nhcouncil.org.