The Pharmacy Quality Alliance was born from a collaboration. In 2006, when Medicare Part D was launched, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan had a vision to not simply cover seniors’ medication costs, but to pay for high value-care.
McClellan’s vision included a public-private partnership – with diverse stakeholders from across health care – that would develop quality measures to help evaluate the Part D program and incentivize plan participants in value-based care.
To build the partnership, McClellan’s “pharmacy point man,” Larry Kocot, brought leaders of pharmacy together with AHIP, America’s Health Insurance Plans. They created the Pharmacy Quality Alliance.
AHIP, CMS, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), another agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, APhA (American Pharmacists Association), AMCP (Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy), NACDS (National Association of Chain Drug Stores), NASPA (National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations), and NCPA (National Community Pharmacists Association) were the eight founding members of PQA.
The commitments they made in April 2026 and in the following years provided the foundation for PQA’s establishment and growth.
In the earliest days, AHIP provided PQA with office space and in-kind administrative services. All the founding organizations served on PQA’s steering committee, which guided PQA’s work before its incorporation as an independent, non-profit association.
The 12-person steering committee also included representatives from the National Consumers League, Pitney Bowes, Express Scripts, and the National Association of State Medicaid Directors.
They were not alone, however. Within PQA’s first year, 27 additional organizations became PQA members and remained members for at least 10 years. At the 2016 PQA Annual Meeting, in celebration of PQA’s 10th anniversary, the following organizations along with PQA’s founding members were recognized as PQA’s “original members.”
- AbbVie (formerly Abbott Pharmaceuticals)
- American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
- American College of Clinical Pharmacy
- American Society of Consultant Pharmacists
- American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
- AstraZeneca
- Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
- Bristol Myers Squibb
- Brookings Institute
- CVS Health (formerly Caremark Rx Inc.)
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Express Scripts, Inc.
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Highmark, Inc.
- Humana
- Johnson & Johnson
- Kaiser Permanente
- Merck
- NCPDP
- NQF
- NCQA
- Novartis
- Outcomes (formerly OutcomesMTM)
- PDX/National Health Systems
- Pfizer
- PhRMA
- Sanofi-Aventis
PQA’s story continues today. A member-driven alliance, nearly 200 organizations from across health care – all with a role in the medication use process – are PQA members.
Today’s PQA members represent pharmacies, health plans, health care providers, pharmacy benefit managers, biopharmaceutical companies, technology vendors, government agencies, associations, health information technology organizations, researchers, accrediting organizations and academia.
They continue to partner through PQA with a shared commitment to the organization’s enduring mission: to optimize health by advancing the quality of medication use.
PQA’s 20th anniversary celebrations are made possible in part by the generous support of Lilly USA, Merck, Pfizer, PQS by Innovaccer, AdhereHealth, Centene, Elevance Health, Humana, Kroger Health, Outcomes, Inmar, McKesson, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, American Pharmacists Association, and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. PQA does not endorse, recommend or favor any product, service or organization that is a sponsor.