PQA Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262968498
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Phone
7033477963
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Health, General and Financing

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,257,825
Expenses
$8,582,631
Assets
$21,570,479
Liabilities
$3,848,596

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

33 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Micah Cost (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Lynn Pezzullo (Vice President Quality Innovation)

Highest reported compensation

  • Micah Cost (Chief Executive Officer): $496,641 total reported compensation
  • Lisa Hines (Chief Quality & Innovation Officer): $370,563 total reported compensation
  • Melissa Viscovich (Chief Operating Officer): $363,312 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Optimizing health by advancing the quality of medication use.

What it reported doing in 2025

Research - The PQA Quality Innovation and Research Center (QuIRC) advances the science of medication-use quality through research, innovation, and collaboration. QuIRC develops next-generation quality measures and tools, identifies opportunities to improve medication use and management, and supports effective measure implementation through pilot projects, demonstration programs, research initiatives, and consensus-building activities. By bringing together key stakeholders, QuIRC helps address complex challenges and improve patient outcomes. In 2025, PQA's research initiatives advanced efforts to identify methodologies for evaluating adherence and persistence to oral anticancer medications; identified strategies to improve the quality of medication therapy management (MTM); and piloted pharmacy-based immunization measure concepts in value-based arrangements.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 71.1%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -18.3%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.51; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.7%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 71.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $497K · 33 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $517K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.