July 14, 2009
Special Open Door Forum - Quality Improvement Organizations ( QIOs): Next Steps towards Transforming Beneficiary Protection
For Your Information:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Special Open Door Forum:
Quality Improvement Organizations: Next Steps towards Transforming Beneficiary Protection
Thursday, July 16, 2009
3:30 – 5:00 p.m. EST
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host this Special Open Door Forum (ODF) to discuss improvements to the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Beneficiary Protection Program (BPP).
The BPP incorporates several QIO functions, including quality of care reviews, reviews of beneficiary complaints, higher-weighted Diagnostic Related Group reviews, utilization reviews, early readmission reviews, EMTALA reviews, appeals of discharges from various provider settings (fee for service and Medicare Advantage), and hospital preadmission reviews.
This Special ODF will serve as a follow-up to our ODF last October, during which we received valuable feedback from participants about the current state of the BPP as well as suggestions for moving the program forward on its mission to protect the rights of beneficiaries to receive high-value, high-quality health care.
In particular, this Special ODF will address:
- CMS activities since the last ODF call of October 2008;
- Key concerns that providers and beneficiaries have about the current BPP processes;
- What CMS is doing to improve the BPP, particularly the beneficiary complaint and complaint review process;
- How CMS plans to accomplish these improvements; and
- CMS' next steps in transforming the BPP.
As CMS moves forward on BPP transformation, additional Forums may be scheduled based on need.
We look forward to your participation.
Special Open Door Participation Instructions:
Dial: 1-800-837-1935 & Reference Conference ID: 19705106. Note: TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing Impaired. For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880. A Relay Communications Assistant will help.
An audio recording of this Special Forum will be posted to the Special Open Door Forum website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/OpenDoorForums/05_ODF_SpecialODF.aspand will be accessible for downloading beginning Monday, July 27, 2009.
For automatic emails of Open Door Forum schedule updates (E-Mailing list subscriptions) and to view Frequently Asked Questions please visit our website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/opendoorforums/.
Thank you for your interest in CMS Open Door Forums.
