The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services selected Altarum Institute and the Trustees of Indiana University as Prime awardees of the Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractor. The Kentucky Regional Extension Center, an outreach arm of UK HealthCare, is a sub-awardee for both of these Prime awardees.
This designation will allow NQIICs to bid on Task Orders over the next five years.
Under the new CMS Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract mechanism to support quality improvement efforts, each NQIIC may serve as:
• Quality Improvement Experts
• Facilitators/change agents for healthcare transformation by achieving bold aims at a high value
• Innovators of quality improvement
As a NQIIC awardee, UK HealthCare’s Kentucky Regional Extension Center has demonstrated healthcare quality improvement expertise.
Services supported by some of the NQIIC awardees may include:
• Provide direct technical assistance in specific areas of healthcare quality improvement (e.g., patient safety, opioid misuse, nursing home quality, etc.)
• Seek and gain commitments from patients, providers and stakeholders to achieve aims
• Use a Human Centered Design that involves teaming with patient and family members to improve healthcare processes and outcomes
• Focus on helping providers and healthcare organizations to achieve quantitative results for improved outcomes, lower costs, better care, less provider burden, greater transparency, and more
• Support a diverse array of organizations and populations, including: rural providers, vulnerable beneficiaries, clinical practices, hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis facilities, and more
• Support providers in efficient use of Health Information Technology and interoperability
• Serve as backbone organizations to form and engage Community Coalitions
• Convene and support Learning and Action Networks (LANs)
