Administrative Memos

200211

FROM: Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer
DATE: Aug 30, 2002
SUBJECT: Release of QualityNet Exchange
IPRO CONTACTS:

Jonathan Miller, Assistant Director MIS - ext. 665
Steve Sachs, SDPS LAN Administrator - ext. 543

As you know, IPRO has been awarded a new contract by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for New York State. Effective August 1, 2002, we are working under a new Seventh Scope of Work, which continues many of the inpatient hospital quality improvement initiatives begun over the past few years. However, under the new contract, IPRO will no longer be primarily responsible for abstracting medical records to collect data for quality measurement and improvement. You will hear more about IPRO's Seventh Scope of Work over the coming weeks.

In preparation for the abstraction of patient level data by hospital staff, CMS has developed QualityNet (QNet) Exchange, an interactive web site that provides for the exchange and input of privacy data between health care providers and IPRO. As stated in the enclosed letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), QNet Exchange is the only approved method for the electronic transmission of private data between QIOs and healthcare providers. While QNet Exchange provides a variety of features, such as customizable content, secure data collection, advanced reports and more, its file exchange capability takes a giant leap forward by allowing healthcare providers and QIOs the ability to securely exchange data files of any type via the Internet.

The QNet Exchange Web site was designed with funding from CMS and was approved by CMS for the exchange of privacy data over the Internet by healthcare providers, Quality Improvement Organizations, Managed Care Organizations, and End Stage Renal Disease Networks.

Several benefits can be gained from the implementation of QNet Exchange at your hospital:

File Exchange - Files of any type can be securely and instantly exchanged over the Internet, including medical record requests, reports, spreadsheets, text files, etc. The minute IPRO sends a file to you, it will be available in your QNet Exchange "inbox" for you to download. Likewise, IPRO staff will have immediate access to any files sent by your hospital. QNet Exchange uses advanced security mechanisms ensuring that only proper, authorized users can log into the site and that only the intended recipient of a file can download the file. All files exchanged via the File Exchange portion of QNet Exchange are encrypted (scrambled) before they leave the sender's computer, safeguarding any patient level data from unintended recipients. A file is stored in this encrypted format until it is decrypted (unscrambled) when the intended recipient downloads the file.

Project Data Collection - An online abstraction tool will be available through QNet Exchange for the collection of Quality Improvement Project data. Through the use of advanced data encryption as mentioned above, the data is exchanged securely and swiftly. Healthcare providers participating in this program will receive immediate feedback featuring comparisons to regional and national norms, as well as predetermined benchmarks.

Reporting - In addition to the project data feedback mentioned above, management reports that provide information, such as abstraction counts down to the abstractor level, will be provided. Designated hospital staff will also be able to monitor usage of the QNet Exchange site by all their registered users.

Collaboration and Education - QNet Exchange includes an area for active online collaboration between health care providers and QIOs, including threaded discussions and documents exchange. In addition, interactive education and training opportunities will be provided through online "Webinars."

We are very excited about the potential QNet Exchange has for streamlining communication and data exchange between hospitals and QIOs, and hope that you will give every consideration to your hospital's participation.

Should you have any questions about QNet Exchange or this memorandum, or would like further information, please feel free to contact the IPRO QNet Exchange Administrators, Jonathan Miller at ext. 665, or Steve Sachs at ext. 543, and/or the QNet Exchange Help Desk at:

QualityNet Exchange Help Desk
6000 Westown Parkway, Suite 350E West Des Moines, IA 50266
Phone: 866-288-8912
Fax: 888-329-7377 E-mail: ifmc.qnetsupport@sdps.org.

QualityNet Exchange Administrator Registration Form and Instructions