Outreach and Information Collection

12300 - Outreach and Information Collection (Rev. 27, Issued: 07-08-16, Effective: 07-08-16, Implementation: 07-08-16) QIOs promote practices that meet professionally recognized standards and promote improvements in the quality of health care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. One tactic that QIOs use to accomplish this goal is the implementation of cooperative quality improvement projects. As part of such projects, CMS encourages QIOs to develop innovative approaches that include collaborative efforts with the medical community, use of evidence-based interventions to change behavior and improve care, communication with beneficiaries and providers, and monitoring of the health care services furnished to beneficiaries. The QIO Program Communications Handbook is a resource for guidelines and procedures on outreach and information collection requirements, including compliance with statutory and regulatory responsibilities, to support QIOs in developing and evaluating quality of care and quality improvement interventions. The QIO Program Communications Handbook is available to QIO contractors through the CMS-furnished secure Intranet site (secure log in is required).