Mizzou Nursing School Project Tapped For Federal Demo; Bond Praises Thompson's Support To Spur Technology Revolution In Nursing Home Care

8/20/2002

From: Craig Orfield of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 202-224-4086

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 -- A groundbreaking technology demonstration and evaluation program, pioneered by the University of Missouri, has been given a green light by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson for a federal evaluation, Senator Kit Bond confirmed today.

In a July 16 meeting with Secretary Thompson, Bond highlighted the success of QIPMO (Quality Improvement Program for Missouri), a patient care monitoring system that provides reports on the quality of care delivered by all Missouri nursing homes, and urged him to adapt it for a technology demonstration project.

"New technology is available that can easily and accurately record individual information about nursing home residents and the care they receive," Bond said. "A successful demonstration project that marries real-time bedside technology, monitoring and clinical consultation could help HHS make big strides in improving the quality of care in nursing homes nationwide. We urgently need a technological revolution in nursing home care that can save lives and spare our elders from unnecessary suffering."

Bond urged Thompson to consider adapting QIPMO's free, on-site clinical consultation and technical assistance as an integral piece of the new HHS technology demonstration and evaluation program. QIPMO is an award winning cooperative project between the Sinclair School of Nursing and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

In a July 17, 2002 letter, Bond thanked Thompson for his enthusiastic support and commitment to assist in efforts to ensure that the demonstration occurs on a regional basis in the near term. He also pledged to work "hand-in-hand toward elevating nursing home facilities out of the cumbersome and antiquated paper-and-pen world and into the digital age."

In April, Bond, who serves on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, requested $2 million for the project from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Research Demonstration and Evaluation budget for Fiscal Year 2003.