CMS community initiatives could reduce health costs

A pilot program introduced by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to boost quality of care for seniors by developing community approaches to health problems could play a key role in bringing down costs, according to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Quality Improvement Organizations, or QIOs, are private groups in each state and U.S. territory that contract with the government for three years to improve health services for Medicare patients.