As Oklahoma's Quality Improvement Organization (QIO), under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), OFMQ is a partner to Oklahoma hospitals in improving health care quality. 

Opportunity for Quality Improvement in Hospitals

Oklahoma hospitals have made measurable progress in recent years in reporting quality data, improving results on key performance measures, and implementing processes to ensure their patients receive better care. However, we still have work to do. And with an increasing national focus on accountability for quality of medical care and the potential for pay-for-performance models, the incentive has never been greater for hospitals to focus energy and resources on quality improvement.

Our Current Projects

In August 2008, Medicare’s Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program officially launched a new three-year program cycle, known as the 9th Scope of Work (SOW). The QIO program calls us to focus our work in three important national priority themes: Patient Safety, Prevention and Beneficiary Protection. Read the QIO program priorities.

Quality improvement efforts in the hospital setting are focused on clinical topics important to Oklahoma's Medicare beneficiaries and that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has identified as national priorities.  OFMQ collaborates with Oklahoma hospitals to help improve performance in quality of care for these topics.  Through consulting, training and special events, we provide healthcare professionals with intervention strategies, resources and tools to improve care.     
The clinical topics for the hospital setting are:

Patient Safety projects in hospitals:  The national Patient Safety priorities are improving care for surgical and heart failure patients and reducing rates through the Surgical Care Improvement Project and through improving health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections.

Quality Data Reporting in Hospitals:  OFMQ actively supports all Oklahoma hospitals in submission of quality data for reporting and Annual Payment Update (APU) purposes. Accurate and valid reporting is essential for hospitals in order to maximize reimbursement, and OFMQ can help you be successful. We offer technical expertise in hospital quality measures, deadlines for data submission, and the impact on the APU. We provide assistance in using CMS reporting systems such as the Clinical Abstraction and Reporting Tool (CART), QualityNet, and the QIO Clinical Warehouse.  Click here for more information on hospital reporting.

Use the links to the left to access more on these topics.