Beyond Quality

Health Literacy As A Quality Standard

Health literacy is not a soft skill. It's a quality infrastructure issue. You've invested in an outreach vendor. You've built the workflows. You've rewritten the scripts twice. None of it matters if the member on the other end of the phone doesn't understand what they're being asked to do — or why. Helen Osborne has spent 30 years asking one question: what can all of us do to help improve health understanding? She's the founder of Health Literacy Consulting, author of Health Literacy from A to Z, and host of the Health Literacy Out Loud podcast. My co-host Jennifer Nguyen and I dig in with her. We get into why the original definition of health literacy missed the mark, the six factors that affect understanding, where health literacy fits inside CAHPS and Star Ratings strategy, and a story about a Spanish-speaking member who read "once a day" as the number 11 — and ended up in the ER three times before anyone figured it out. If you lead a quality program, build outreach materials, or own member experience at a Medicare Advantage or Medicaid plan — this one's for you. Find Helen at healthliteracy.com. --- Beyond Quality is hosted by Rex Wallace of Rex Wallace Consulting. Learn more at https://www.rexwallaceconsulting.com/

Every Problem Is A People Problem

In this episode of Beyond Quality, host Rex Wallace and this episode's co-host Laurie Call welcome Dr. Matt Poepsel, PhD, Vice President & Godfather of Talent Optimization at The Predictive Index, to explore why every business problem is, at its core, a people problem. The conversation unpacks how healthcare quality leaders can drive results through influence rather than authority, and why that skill has never mattered more. Dr. Poepsel introduces the Predictive Index, a six-minute behavioral assessment used by 94% of best-in-class companies to build self-aware, high-performing teams. The trio also takes on the AI question head-on: rather than replacing human connection, automation is making it the last real differentiator. If you lead quality improvement programs, manage cross-functional teams, or just want to understand what separates good organizations from great ones, this episode is for you.

Improvement Science Eats Org Charts for Breakfast!

What if quality wasn't just a department but the entire operating strategy of your organization? In this episode, host Rex Wallace sits down with improvement scientist and author Dr. Dave Williams and co-host Ryan Bernstein to explore how healthcare organizations can move beyond project-level process improvement and start thinking in systems. Dave breaks down the tools and mindset shifts that help leaders understand their organization as a system, why testing before scaling is non-negotiable, and what it really means for leaders to own outcomes rather than delegate them. Quality as an Organizational Strategy and the QOS Field Guide are available on Amazon. Connect with Dave at davidmwilliamsphd.com or on LinkedIn.

Quality Is A Financial Strategy

In the first episode of Beyond Quality, host Rex Wallace and co-host Nate Lucena welcome actuary Eve Anderson, Director of Actuarial Services at Zing Health, for a candid conversation about quality as a financial strategy in Medicare Advantage. Eve unpacks the difficult cycle smaller MA plans face, offering rich benefits they can't afford while struggling to achieve the Star Ratings that would fund them, and explains why there's no shortcut to four or five stars. The trio digs into why measuring ROI for quality initiatives is so challenging, how organizations can build stronger financial cases for quality investments, and what it looks like to align long-term financial goals with quality performance targets. Eve also offers practical guidance for quality leaders who need to communicate more effectively with finance and executive teams, and shares a candid take on the limitations of CAHPS as a measurement tool.