IPRO has won an historic, five-year award as the Medicare-funded Quality Innovation Network (QIN) contractor for the states of New York and South Carolina and for the District of Columbia. Under a new arrangement that began August 1, state-based Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) have been replaced by regional QIN contractors, focusing on hospital and nursing home quality improvement, care transitions, drug safety, disease self-management and better primary care through enhanced use of health information technology. The IPRO-led entity will be known as the Atlantic Quality Innovation Network or AQIN. The award – which includes subcontracts with the Delmarva Foundation of Columbia MD and the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence of Columbia SC – is one of 14 regional QIN contracts. Earlier this year, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made major changes to the QIO program, electing to separate quality improvement activities from medical case review. Two other contractors, Ohio-based KePRO and Maryland-based Livanta, LLC, are now responsible for reviewing all Medicare beneficiary appeals and quality of care complaints beginning August 1. “We’re pleased that CMS has chosen to broaden IPRO’s quality improvement leadership beyond New York to include South Carolina and the District of Columbia,” said IPRO Chief Executive Officer Theodore O. Will. “We look forward to this new opportunity to improve care for a greater number of our nation’s seniors.”