The Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Program helps clinicians improve health care outcomes and promote health equity for the people they serve. 

QIO Program initiatives for clinicians focus on five priority areas: 

Opioid Utilization and Misuse 

Clinicians receive evidence-based practices and resources to decrease adverse drug events and deaths from opioids. They also receive assistance implementing pain management and opioid use best practices such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT), prescription monitoring, naloxone distribution and other community-based strategies. 

Care Coordination 

People with Medicare whose care is not well coordinated when they move to a new care setting are at a higher risk for adverse outcomes, including medication errors, adverse drug events and avoidable visits to the hospital. Clinicians receive assistance developing processes to better coordinate care with post-acute providers, patients and their families and improving communication when their patients transition across care settings. Clinicians also receive assistance with connecting their patients to community services so they can stay healthy at home. 

Chronic Disease Management 

Nearly 66 percent of people with Medicare have chronic conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. To help address this burden, clinicians receive evidence-based treatment recommendations and connections to local resources for their patients like disease self-management and lifestyle change programs. 

COVID-19 

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted clinician practices and has led to reductions in patient volume and revenue as well as clinician burnout. Clinicians receive timely information about regulations and guidance along with promising practices and resources that address clinicians’ most pressing needs. 

Immunizations 

Immunizations are the most effective way to prevent infections that pose the highest risk to people with Medicare – COVID-19, influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia. Clinicians receive evidence-based strategies and promising practices that are critical for implementing a successful vaccination program.