****UPDATE**** 

On August 8, 2008, CMS announced publicly it has awarded the contract for the QIO Program 9th Statement of Work (beginning August 1) to Health Services Advisory Group for the state of California and WVMI Health Insights for the state of North Carolina.  On the week of August 12, 2008, protests against these awards were filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). GAO's decision on the protests must be issued no later than 100 days after the protest was filed. In this case, the deadline for the GAO decision on the protest is November 21, 2008.  In accordance with the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), the filing of the protest triggered an automatic stay on performance of the Health Services Advisory Group and WVMI Quality Insights contracts pending GAO's decision.  This stay on performance will not impact the rights of California- or North Carolina-based beneficiaries to file complaints about the quality of care in their state.

In August 2008, work began on the QIO Program's 9^th Statement of Work (SOW), which extends through July 31, 2011.

The 9^th SOW builds on the Administration's health care initiatives and a growing evidence base about how to improve the quality and efficiency of the health care sector. The 9^th SOW has 6 six main sections. Three of them are required of all 53 QIO contractors, while 3 will be competed among the QIOs to be conducted sub-nationally.

For All QIOs:

1. Beneficiary Protection
2. Patient Safety
3. Core Prevention

"Sub-national" Tasks for Some QIOs:

4. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Project
5. Care Transitions Project
6. Prevention: Efforts to Reduce Health Disparities among Diabetes Patients

What's New Under the 9^th SOW?
Part of CMS' new emphasis under the 9th SOW is to use management information tools (such as milestone and project tracking) to ensure that QIOs' services make positive contributions to beneficiary care, and that the Agency receives the best value for the resources it expends on the Program.

The new SOW represents a significant shift in the way CMS approaches its quality responsibilities. In response to these recommendations, we have used the 9^th SOW as a way to:

• Develop a robust framework of quality measures that provides accountability to the 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.

In addition, QIOs will focus their intervention projects across the spectrum of care, rather than in "silos" based on settings of care, as we have with previous scopes of work. This will allow the QIOs to have a sector-wide impact on the provision of care to Medicare beneficiaries. Furthermore, QIOs will focus their interventions on those providers/practitioners who are most in need of quality assistance. QIOs will provide intensive, one-on-one support with low-performing providers rather than casting their net of limited resources in less strategic ways, as may have been done in the past.

Learn More about the 9^th SOW

CMS' announcement of the 9^th SOW contract award is available in the "Downloads" section at the bottom of this page.

As part of the transition to the 9th SOW, CMS conducted contract competition in several areas of the country. Please refer to the "Downloads" section at the bottom of this page to learn more about the Request for Proposals that CMS solicited as part of this competition.

Downloads
Fact Sheet: CMS Announces 9th SOW Contract Awards [PDF, 90KB] Rosters of QIOs under the 9th SOW [PDF, 77KB] 8th SOW contract [PDF, 1.1MB] Pre-Proposal Transcript [PDF, 487KB] Qs & As Responses [ZIP, 2MB] 9th SOW: Contract Solicitation Revisions as of 3/6/08 [ZIP, 5MB] 9th SOW: Contract Solicitation Revisions as of 2/21/08 [ZIP, 965KB] 9th SOW: Contract Solicitation Documents as of 2/5/08 [ZIP, 9MB]
Related Links Inside CMS
Fact Sheet: Medicare Releases Solicitations for QIOs' 9th Statement of Work
Related Links Outside CMS
FedBizOpps: 9th SOW Solicitation Documents MedQIC QIO Directory AHQA Medicare Quality Improvement Organization Program Priorities