In August 2008, QIOs began work on their 9th Statement of Work with CMS. To learn more, read our Fact Sheet on the 9th SOW page.

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
QIO 9th SOW Base Contract as of 8/1/08 [PDF, 1MB] Fact Sheet: CMS Announces 9th SOW Contract Awards [PDF, 98KB] 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
Press Release: QIOs Funded to Reduce Hospital Re-admission Rates Press Release: Health Services Advisory Group Assumes QIO Work Fact Sheet: Medicare Releases Solicitations for QIOs' 9th Statement of Work
Related Links Outside CMS
FedBizOpps: 9th SOW Solicitation Documents MedQIC QIO Directory

Page Last Modified: 04/13/2009 2:59:24 PM
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