Qsource 50th Anniversary History

Qsource pursues a growth strategy that incorporates direct customer sales to its expanding business portfolio. The initial focus nursing homes, launches a new division and a NH “rapid response team”.

Qsource began work with two AHRQ academic grantees providing heart health practice facilitation services to physician practices in Alabama and Tennessee.

Qsource retained both Networks 10 & 12 contracts via competitive bid, earning a new five year contract for each.

Qsource adds Arkansas external quality review.

Qsource is contracted to conduct external quality review for the state of Ohio for 2019.

Qsource and Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation partner to earn five year CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP-SURS) Technical Assistance contracts in Alabama and Tennessee.

The EQRO Division is asked to expand the performance improvement project (PIP) evaluation activity and reporting to cover all such studies submitted by the state’s managed care organizations rather than just a sample of one or two each. The Quality Oversight Division also requested assistance with analyzing and reporting data from the long-term support services customer satisfaction survey of TennCare members and added to EQRO responsibilities an annual medical record review of EPSDT services and an audit of sterilizations and specified women’s health services to help ensure compliance with federal and state regulations.

tnREC contracted to work with Medicaid providers to implement EHRs and obtain meaningful use status by 2015.

QIOs begin 10th Scope of Work (2011-2014).

Qsoure-Arkansas obtained QIO-like entity status, allowing for additional contract opportunities in Arkansas.

QIOs begin the 9th Scope of Work (2008-2011) with six main themes: Beneficiary Protection, Patient Safety, Core Prevention, Chronic Kidney Disease, Care Transitions and Prevention.

The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) promotes standardized reporting of clinical health information, targeting all Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) providers with payments based on a 1.5 percent bonus of their fee schedule.

Qsource achieved certification in ISO 9001. ISO 9001 represents a critical element in our overall strategic plan. The purpose of the ISO 9001 certification is to ensure that our project management activities and quality improvement efforts are documented, tracked, and reported. Our ultimate goal is to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations by creating superior services and products. Participation in ISO 9001 and Internal Quality Control (IQC) measurement is part of our corporate strategy and involves corporate, team and individual process evaluation. By creating a system to document and measure each aspect of our contract activity, we obtain valuable knowledge for producing the best product possible for our customers, healthcare consumers and taxpayers.

QIO contract renewed for 8th Scope of Work. Focus is placed on working with providers and practitioners to help redesign care delivery systems, care processes and implement organizational changes that will promote more rapid quality improvement.

The final Compare Care Web site focused on hospitals across the country publicly reporting data to the Hospital Compare site. Qsource led the effort in Tennessee.

CMS created national QIO Support Centers (QIOSC) to provide QIO task teams with educational material, tools, scientific evidence, facilitate communication among practice communities and train all QIOs to help them perform their task. Qsource was designated the Underserved QIOSC and worked with disparity populations to improve healthcare.

Medicare contract renewed for 7th time. New focus of work is quality improvement in nursing homes, home health agencies and hospitals. Emphasis was placed on the launch of public reporting of quality via Compare Web sites. QIOs also begin helping Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) adopt Health Information Technology (HIT) to improve care.

Dr. Albert Grobmyer becomes CEO. During his career, Dr. Grobmyer has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to organized medicine. A member of the Tennessee and American Medical Associations, he served as president of the Memphis Medical Society and the Memphis Surgical Society. Dr. Grobmyer was a founding member and president of the St. Francis IPA Board and president of the St. Francis Hospital medical staff. In representing the physician community, Dr. Grobmyer has given testimony before Tennessee Gubernatorial Tort Reform and U.S. Senate Committee hearings. Currently, he holds membership on several committees related to healthcare improvement for Tennesseans and serves on the Public Affairs Committee of the UT National Alumni Association. A 1962 UTHSC College of Medicine graduate, Dr. Grobmyer completed a tour of duty as a surgeon for the United States Public Health Service, returning to Memphis where he had a general surgical practice for thirty years.

MSFMC enters into a subcontractor agreement with Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), the organization serving as the as the External Quality Review Organization (EQRO), providing quality oversight of managed care contractors in Tennessee. It is the first major, non-Medicare contract since the elimination of the Medicaid Prior Authorization contract in 1993.

Medicare renews its contract with MSFMC. Work begins to focus on a national campaign using standardized quality indicators and local interventions to improve care in six critical disease areas — heart attack, breast cancer, diabetes, heart failure, pneumonia and stroke.

To better monitor outcomes in a measurable way, a national Cardiovascular Project became the focus for PROs to help physicians and hospitals improve quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.

MSFMC begins it’s fourth contract with Medicare focusing on creating partnerships with HCFA, providers, experts and citizens to identify opportunities to improve healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries.

HCFA launches the Health Care Quality Improvement Program (HCQIP) to move from targeting individual provider errors towards focusing on practice patterns and care outcomes at institutional and national levels. This is a significant milestone in the evoluation of the PRO program and will affect future Scopes of Work.

Logan Malone hired as CEO. Malone began his career in the medical field after a long military career and a stint as an educator. Malone worked for 10 years at Mid-South Foundation for Medicare Care in Memphis. Prior to that, he was headmaster of a private school in Memphis for two years and earned a doctorate in education from the University of Memphis at age 59. He also was president of a division of First Tennessee Bank of Memphis after retiring from the Navy in 1982 as a rear admiral. During his 30 years in the Navy, he was commander of both ballistic missile and attack submarines and was commander of all NATO submarines in the Mediterranean for two years in the late 1970s. He went on to become the CEO of Florida Medical Quality Assurance in 2001.

By the late 1980’s, HCFA, PROs and the healthcare industry started to realize that retrospective individual case review was not an effective means of improving overall quality of healthcare. New models of quality improvement were considered by the healthcare industry. The models focused on improving standards by improving care delivery processes, information systems and training resources. The new models require analyzing care patterns and projects to improve specific processes of care.

Medicare contract renewed with a focus on respective case reviews and the detection of inappropriate use of services.

Prospective Payment System (PPS) designed to contain spiraling healthcare costs and offer financial incentive for providers subject to PPS.

Leon J. Swatzell was a founder of the MidSouth Foundation for Medical Care and served as CEO from 1973 until retiring in 1991.