Quality Improvement Organization funding questioned
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
July 18, 2005
Quality improvement organizations (QIO), which are funded by CMS, are designed to help hospitals adopt best practices to reduce medical errors and increase patient safety. Critics question the effectiveness of the organizations, saying hospitals have been making progress without the QIOs in place and that the money could be better spend elsewhere. The debate is outlined in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.A recent study shows that hospitals that have used QIOs have improved their safety results. Opponents to the organizations, however, said the study only followed the hospital's progress during a favorable time period, and that many of those hospitals with improved performances had not had enough time working with QIOs to say that the organizations were responsible for the positive changes.
The federal government has spent over $2 billion on the improvement program, and has allocated $1.2 billion for the next three years.
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