The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the 9th Statement of Work (SOW) for Medicare’s 53 quality improvement organizations (QIOs). The 9th SOW provides CMS additional tools to better manage the QIOs by linking the work completed by the organizations to measurable outcomes reviewed and measured during the entire length of the three-year contract, which begins Aug. 1, 2008.
As part of the contract requirements, QIOs will center their improvement efforts on protecting beneficiaries, care transitions, patient safety, and prevention. Each program has measurable criteria, close monitoring, and performance improvement plans to gauge each QIOs performance under the contract. In addition, the QIOs will help Medicare promote value-driven health care, support the adoption and use of interoperable health IT, and reduce health disparities in their communities.
CMS evaluated the QIOs in all 53 jurisdictions to determine the quality and effectiveness of how each organization met the 8th SOW contract requirements. Based on that review, the QIOs from eight states--California, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, and South Carolina--are being required to compete for contract awards under the 9th SOW because these contractors did not meet all the performance criteria outlined in the 8th SOW and did not meet the criteria CMS developed for automatic renewal.
