Government
Lawmakers investigate QIOs
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 26, 2005
The Senate Finance Committee has increased the scope of its investigation into Medicare quality improvement organizations, private-sector groups that contract with the government to help physicians and other program participants provide better care.
Finance Chair Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) recently sent a letter to Healthcare Quality Strategies, a New Jersey QIO, to demand explanations for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal money that allegedly went toward compensating board members and providing a staff retreat in the Caribbean for the directors. "As a preliminary matter, it is difficult to understand why an entire board would need to travel from New Jersey to the Grand Cayman to discuss improving quality of care for beneficiaries, but I am eager to receive your detailed and documented explanations," Grassley wrote.
The missive is the latest in a series of letters the Finance Committee sent to QIOs throughout the country after reports of widespread complaints about the groups surfaced. Medicare beneficiaries and their advocates charged that some of the organizations, which often have boards made up mostly of physicians, investigate few patient complaints and rarely take action when doctors are found to be providing low-quality care.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/12/26/gvbf1226.htm.
