Administrative Memos

200502

FROM: Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer
DATE: Apr 20, 2005
SUBJECT: LETTER OF INTEREST - 8TH SCOPE OF WORK
IPRO CONTACTS:

Pauline Kinney, R.N., M.A., L.N.H.A., Director - NHQI, ext. 402

In November 2002, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began a National Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI). The goals of the initiative were two fold:

1. To help nursing home (NH) providers improve the quality of care for their residents by providing them with complimentary clinical resources, quality improvement materials, and assistance from the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIO) in every state.
2. To provide consumers with an additional source of information about the quality of NH care by providing a set of MDS-based Quality Measures (QMs) on Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Web site.

In support of the NHQI, IPRO, New York State's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, has had the pleasure of working with over 650 NHs throughout New York State for the past 2½ years. IPRO has helped providers improve the quality of care for their residents by providing them with clinical resources, quality improvement materials and technical support to develop and implement successful quality improvement programs. More specifically, assistance was provided to improve the QM rates in four clinical areas (post-acute pain, chronic pain, pressure ulcers and restraints). Also, as part of the 7th SOW, IPRO worked closely with one hundred (100) Identified Participant (IP) nursing facilities in New York State. These facilities were all volunteers and have made significant improvements in the care being provided to residents by taking advantage of these materials and the support of the NHQI staff.

In early Summer 2005, the initial NHQI project period will be transitioning into an expanded commitment to quality. IPRO will continue to support the NH community over the next three-year project period (8th Scope of Work, or SOW) and will initiate our recruitment process for IP nursing facilities shortly.

Please review the attached Letter of Interest. We would like to hear from you if you are considering partnering with IPRO as an IP facility in the 8th SOW.

At this time, we are assessing levels of interest throughout our NH communities of practice. Be assured that completing the form and submitting it to IPRO does not confirm intent to participate. Additional information and recruitment deliverables are forthcoming.

If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Pauline Kinney at (516) 209-5402 or at pkinney@nyqio.sdps.org.

Note: If you need a Letter of Interest, please contact Marina Durmaz. Please do not fax the Letter of Interest Form; complete the form and mail the original copy to:

Marina Durmaz/HCQIP Dept

IPRO

1979 Marcus Avenue, Suite 105

Lake Success, NY 11042

Phone: 516-326-7767 ext. 296