Medicare Quality Improvement Program Needs Major Overhaul (Sen. Chuck Grassley)

For quite some time I have been an advocate of reforming the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program. It’s an oxymoron to have a quality improvement program that turns out to be poor quality. It needs a major overhaul and The Continuing the Advancement of Quality Improvement Act that I introduced with Sen. Baucus (D-Mont.) will do just that. This program has evolved to have many different functions. Some of them are at cross purposes, and the QIOs aren’t performing any of the functions well. Both Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers would be better served by a revamped program that focuses on providing quality-improvement services in a competitive environment and holds QIOs accountable for results and tax dollars spent. Improving the quality of healthcare services is an important job, and it needs to be done right.