Report faults Medicare quality control

WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- A report finds that private contractors investigating complaints made by Medicare patients tend to favor healthcare providers.

The Institute of Medicine report suggested that Quality Improvement Organizations have a built-in conflict of interest, The Washington Post reported.

"QIOs consider providers, not beneficiaries, to be their primary clients, and a QIO may not want to antagonize the providers," the report said.

The report found that the groups have not publicized patients' rights. They have also recommended few sanctions and when they do uphold complaints patients and their families are not notified.