Comagine Health Announces Intent to Bid as Prime Contractor for 13th Statement of Work to Serve as Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization in Region 6 

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Newly Assembled Team Prepares Approach in Anticipation of Request for Proposal    

Comagine Health, a leading national, nonprofit health care consulting organization, announces the formation of partnerships to support its upcoming bid as prime contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 13th Statement of Work to serve as the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) in Region 6, which encompasses Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. QIN-QIOs provide services to health care providers in outpatient practices, hospitals and nursing homes to improve the safety and quality of the care they deliver and support community initiatives to achieve better health for people with Medicare.

For decades, the firm has served as the QIN-QIO in Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington, and it is actively engaged with state and/or federal partners in work in every other state in the new region. To better meet the needs of the diverse and dispersed populations that make up Midwest CMS QIN-QIO Region 6, Comagine Health has established partnerships with seasoned organizations across the region who will have a specific role providing an aspect of QIN-QIO services.

The following organizations have partnered with Comagine Health to provide QIN-QIO services aligned with their expertise and/or existing state and provider relationships:

Comagine Health is continuing to build partnerships with additional organizations to create a robust network that will promote optimal health and well-being through improved quality of care, greater equity in care, better patient experience, and lower and more sustainable costs for people with Medicare. In addition to organizations that will provide QIN-QIO services, Comagine Health has engaged dozens of other individuals and organizations — including associations, health systems and universities — to ensure the delivery of QIN-QIO services is aligned and highly valued in communities across the 14 states.

This newly assembled team aims to realize the full potential of the renewed and expanded CMS vision for the QIN-QIO Program across the entire Region 6 geography while also ensuring program services and priorities remain relevant and effective in each of the diverse communities and states included in this vast region. The Comagine Health team is well positioned to carry out the work anticipated in the CMS 13th Statement of Work, which envisions the program serving as the nation’s resource for quality improvement and as CMS’s rapid response arm to support providers and clinicians in addressing quality and safety issues in hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient care settings. The work also involves helping to build leadership capacity to drive the effective, engaged and resilient culture needed in communities all across the region to help our system meet the health care challenges of today and tomorrow.  

“CMS is a long-standing partner. We and our team members are excited about this potential new opportunity to serve a broader region in pursuit of our shared vision of improving health care quality,” Marc Bennett, Comagine Health’s president and chief executive officer, said. “The talented team we’ve assembled has unparalleled local connections and extensive quality improvement and patient safety expertise. I am confident this team, if selected by CMS, will deliver exceptional value and meaningful impact for Medicare patients and participating providers in all 14 of these states.”  

Comagine Health currently serves as the CMS QIN-QIO in six western states for the 12th Statement of Work. The CMS QIO 13th Statement of Work is expected to be awarded in July 2024.  

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About Comagine Health  
Comagine Health works collaboratively with patients, providers, payers and other stakeholders to reimagine, redesign and implement sustainable improvements in the health care system. As a trusted, neutral party, we work in our communities to address key, complex health and health care delivery problems. In all our engagements and initiatives, we draw upon our expertise in quality improvement, care management, health information technology, analytics and research. We invite you to work with us to improve health and redesign the health care delivery system. For more information, please visit comagine.org.   

About the QIN-QIO Program  
QIN-QIOs bring Medicare beneficiaries, providers, and communities together in data-driven initiatives that increase patient safety, make communities healthier, better coordinate post-hospital care, and improve clinical quality. QIN-QIOs are skilled in creating opportunities for providers to learn from each other, applying advanced improvement and analytical methods, engaging patients and families, and structuring processes and systems for sustaining positive change. Currently, QIN-QIOs serve regions of two to six states, which means best practices for better care spread more quickly, while still accommodating local conditions and cultural factors. CMS recently announced that beginning in 2024, QIO contracts will be awarded in seven defined regions. For more information, please visit qioprogram.org.