Stephanie Mercado CAE

Stephanie Mercado is a leader in healthcare association management and advancing healthcare professions. Since joining NAHQ in December 2013, CPHQ certificants and NAHQ members have increased by more than 50%. Stephanie has raised NAHQ’s prominence and value in the healthcare quality space, with the introduction of industry elevating initiatives such as the award-winning HQ Essential Competencies and the National Healthcare Quality Summit. In partnership with NAHQ’s Board of Directors, and an outstanding staff and volunteer team, Stephanie led the development of the profession’s first-ever Comprehensive Competency Framework, and the profession’s first-ever Workforce Study, offering critical insights to workforce development opportunities for healthcare quality and safety professionals.

Stephanie speaks nationally on NAHQ’s behalf about the critical need to reduce variation in healthcare quality competencies, and the intense training needs that are in-play with the decreasing shelf-life of skills in the rapidly evolving healthcare market.

Stephanie has deep knowledge of healthcare issues gained from almost 20 years on both the front line and in executive association leadership. She has built healthcare competencies and medical curriculum models, certifications, professional development and training programs, and led advocacy efforts for societies and professions. Stephanie is a sought-after expert on healthcare association management and healthcare quality workforce readiness for value. She currently serves on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s National Steering Committee for Patient Safety, the Association Forum Healthcare Collaborative Steering Committee, and is a board member of the Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), and more. In 2018, Stephanie was selected as a recipient of the Outstanding Nonprofit Leader Award from .orgCommunity.