| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2006
Contact: Jennifer Felsher
Phone: 202-261-7565
Email: jfelsher@ahqa.org
AHQA
Endorses Legislation
To Modernize QIO Program
Washington ,
DC — Legislation
introduced today to modernize the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization
(QIO) program will dramatically strengthen a key federal program to help
all health professionals improve the quality and safety of patient care.
The American Health Quality Association (AHQA) announced its strong support
for the bill.
The new
bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess , MD (R-TX), changes
the law to make assistance with quality improvement available to more
health care providers, and strengthens the QIO program as a national
strategy for health care performance measurement and improvement. It
reflects recommendations put forward in March by the Institute of Medicine
(IOM). The legislation codifies major reforms proposed by AHQA earlier
this year to make the Medicare beneficiary complaint process more responsive
to consumers, and ensures diversity and consumer representation on
QIO governing bodies. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) administers the QIO program to ensure quality care for Medicare
beneficiaries.
“Enactment of this legislation will empower QIOs to provide all
health professionals with the tools and model practices they need to
improve the quality of care,” said AHQA Executive Vice President
David Schulke. “We urge Congress to adopt this legislation, so
that all Americans can benefit from safer, more effective, and more efficient
care.”
Among the most significant provisions of the Burgess bill:
- Make quality improvement assistance available to all health care
providers, practitioners, and plans that want help improving care.
- Reform the Medicare beneficiary complaint process by making it more
transparent and more accountable to consumers, and to teach providers
proven methods for promptly resolving consumer concerns.
- Increase the breadth of experience and consumer representation in
QIO governing bodies.
Other provisions in the Burgess bill would:
- Establish and achieve quality and patient safety goals developed
and guided by local stakeholders and national experts.
- Increase competition for QIO contracts.
- Strengthen evaluations of both individual QIOs and the impact of
the national QIO program on health care quality.
- Guarantee a minimum level of funding and ensure increased resources
for expanded responsibilities.
- Extend QIO program activities through a new state option for performance
improvement initiatives to benefit Medicaid beneficiaries.
Schulke
noted that most of the governing statute for the QIO program was written
more than twenty years ago. “We’ve learned a
lot about our health care system during that time, and we know a lot
more now about how to effectively promote reliably high quality care,” he
said. “This legislation will greatly increase the QIOs’ ability
to help health care providers deliver safer and more effective care.
We are very grateful to Dr. Burgess for his leadership.”
The American Health Quality Association is dedicated
to improving the safety and effectiveness of health care. AHQA represents
the national network of Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) that
work with hospitals, medical practices, long-term care facilities, home
health agencies, health plans, pharmacists, and employers to encourage
the spread of best clinical practices and improve systems of care delivery.
Visit: www.ahqa.org. |
