ABOUT US
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- About Quality Improvement Organizations
- Locate Your Quality Improvement Organization
- Partners
- Snapshots of Health Disparities Activities
THE OFFICE OF CLINICAL STANDARDS AND QUALITY
Quality Improvement Group (QIG)
The 9th SoW represents a significant shift in the way the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approaches its quality improvement responsibilities. In response to these recommendations, we have used the 9th Scope of Work (SoW) as a way to:
- Develop a robust framework of quality measures that provides accountability to Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) for making changes at all levels of the health care system, and
- Implement a management information system that helps CMS keep its fingers on the pulse of the program through monitoring how well QIOs stack up on programmatic and administrative metrics.
CMS views the QIO Program as an important component of its goal to provide quality care for everyone. By law, the mission of the QIO Program is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, economy, and quality of services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. Under the direction of the CMS, QIO consists of a national network of 53 entities, responsible for each U.S. state, territory, and the District of Columbia.
QIOs work with health care providers, Medicare beneficiaries and other interested groups to refine care delivery systems to make sure patients get the right care at the right time, particularly patients from “priority” (underserved) populations.
Health disparities have been integrated throughout all of the QIO Program’s 9th SoW Themes and Sub-National Task areas. The Themes are Beneficiary Protection, Patient Safety and Prevention (Core). The Sub-National Task areas are Prevention (Disparities), Care Transitions and Prevention (Chronic Kidney Disease).