WVMI launches new Web sites for 9th SOW Charleston, WV - The West Virginia Medical Institute (WVMI) and its Quality Insights affiliates in August launched three Web sites in support of the new 9th Scope of Work (SOW) for Quality Improvement Organizations. Scope of work is CMS’ term for its three-year contract cycles.

WVMI’s new Web site is at www.qiwv.org. Its affiliates, Quality Insights of Pennsylvania and Quality Insights of Delaware, also have new Web sites at www.qipa.org, and www.qide.org, respectively.

As part of the new Quality Improvement Organization contract, WVMI and Quality Insights will focus on three main themes: patient safety, prevention, and beneficiary protection.

As part of its patient safety activities, WVMI and Quality Insights will work hospitals and nursing homes to do the following:

  • Reduce the incidence of MRSA infections
  • Reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers
  • Reduce the incidence of physical restraints
  • Improve inpatient surgical safety and heart failure treatment
  • Improve drug safety
  • Provide quality improvement technical assistance to nursing homes in need
As part of its prevention activities, WVMI and Quality Insights will work with physician practices that use an electronic health record (EHRs) to help them do the following:

  • Improve mammography rates
  • Improve colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates
  • Improve influenza immunization rates
  • Improve pnuemococcal vaccination rates
As part of its beneficiary protection efforts, WVMI will continue to do the following:

  • Review the quality of care provided to beneficiaries
  • Review beneficiary appeals of certain provider notices
  • Reviewing possible anti-dumping cases
In addition, WVMI will do the following beneficiary protection activities:

  • Develop quality improvement activities to encourage systemwide changes
  • Use case review data activities to identify problems with quality of care
  • Design quality improvement activities to help providers correct these problems.