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OHCA Announces Chief Quality Officer

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Press Release

12/29/20
For Immediate Release

Media Contact: 
Melissa Richey, Chief of Communications
405-982-8707 | melissa.richey@okhca.org

Katelynn Burns, Senior Media Relations Professional
405-522-7266 | katelynn.burns@okhca.org


OHCA Announces Chief Quality Officer

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) CEO, Kevin Corbett, has named Dr. Nathan Valentine as the OHCA Chief Quality Officer. As chief quality officer, Dr. Valentine will oversee OHCA quality assurance and quality improvement programs which will be a critical role in improving overall health outcomes for SoonerCare members. 

"I am passionately committed to improving health for the underserved,” said Dr. Valentine. “I am particularly excited about my new role because I will be able to directly engage OHCA staff and community partners in a concerted effort to measurably improve health outcomes for all SoonerCare members.”  

As the agency transitions to a managed care service delivery model, Dr. Valentine will work directly with the managed care organizations to implement specific quality improvement strategies to work toward Oklahoma’s efforts of becoming a top 10 state in health outcomes. Currently, Oklahoma ranks 46th in health outcomes.

“We are committed to making Oklahoma a top ten state in health outcomes. Engaging providers through a managed care organization will help us achieve our goal of ensuring Oklahomans receive improved access to quality care.” said OHCA CEO Kevin Corbett.  

“This is an important role for our agency, and we are fortunate to have someone with Dr. Valentine’s expertise serving in this role,” adds OHCA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mike Herndon. “I am excited to see how he and his team will bring about improvement in health care for Oklahomans.”

Dr. Valentine graduated from medical school at the University of Oklahoma. He is board certified in family medicine and has a certificate of added qualification in hospice and palliative care.  

Dr. Valentine will begin his new role on Jan. 4, 2021.

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About the Oklahoma Health Care Authority

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority administers two health programs for the state. The first is SoonerCare, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program. SoonerCare works to improve the health of qualified Oklahomans by ensuring that medically necessary benefits and services are available. Qualifying Oklahomans include certain low-income children, seniors, the disabled, those being treated for breast or cervical cancer and those seeking family planning services. The second program OHCA operates is Insure Oklahoma, which assists qualifying adults and small business employees in obtaining health care coverage for themselves and their families. Currently, there are 827,657 Oklahomans enrolled in OHCA’s programs. The agency contracts with a network of approximately 60,000 providers. For more information, visit www.okhca.org or www.insureoklahoma.org.  

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