Orrin Hatch: “today I join with Senators Rockefeller, Lott, and Kennedy to introduce the Medicare Quality Improvement Modernization…”

“today I join with Senators Rockefeller, Lott, and Kennedy to introduce the Medicare Quality Improvement Modernization Act of 2007, S. 2396. As background for my colleagues, Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization, QIO, program has been in existence for 35 years. The program's intent has always been to assure that Medicare's beneficiaries receive high quality medical care. The program has undergone a steady evolution. What began as a program that called attention to hospitals and physicians whose care deviated from the norms of medical practice has morphed into one that seeks to help physicians, hospitals, nursing homes and other providers develop systems to improve their quality of care. The program has changed as the definition of quality changed. When Medicare's peer review program was initiated, high quality care for a Medicare beneficiary was simply not to be among the unfortunate few whose medical care deviated from the norms of local medical practice. Fortunate for them, however, quality today is the routine adherence of providers to nationally accepted standards of care. The legislative changes we propose for the QIO program reflects an ever-advancing definition of quality medical care and a focus on helping providers obtain it.”