Quality Matters

Health care quality means that health plans, providers, nurses, and clinics and hospitals do: the right things; at the right time; in the right amount; and for the right people. Quality, excellence, and commitment and value are words commonly used to describe a managed care organization or MCO. No organization aspires to be average. All MCOs want to be recognized as providers of excellent services and programs, but they cannot do this without effective quality management programs.

Lovelace's Quality Program begins with a program description and a work plan that outlines the structure and function of the program. This program and plan is designed to ensure that there is a mechanism to identify, review, monitor, evaluate, and take actions to improve care across the continuum. The quality program is multi-disciplinary involving all departments with direct impact on quality and accessibility of care and service. The LHP Board of Directors oversees the Quality Program to ensure that quality management and improvement functions are integrated into a timely, consistent and effective program.

Our Quality Program is based on the promises we convey in our health plan's Mission, Vision, and Values statements. We are dedicated to providing quality service and quality care. We focus on helping our members stay healthy. A variety of health and preventive programs to help members' remain healthy are listed in your member newsletter. If a member becomes ill, we work to return the member to better health through specialty services, case management, disease management and access to our health information line, as well as other health information on the internet.

We are committed to customer satisfaction and service, for both members and providers. Improvement cannot occur without measurement and feedback. LHP has many continuous monitors in place to constantly assess the stability of our processes. The plan is committed to public accountability and shares quality data with others through local and national data sharing initiatives such as HEDIS (Health Plan Employer Data & Information Set), and CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Health Plan Study). The plan participates with accrediting and certifying agencies such as NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance), CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), and HSD (Health Services Department - State of New Mexico) to ensure the highest standards are maintained.

If you have any questions or recommendations for our LHP Quality Management Department please contact 505.262.3673 or via email: linda.hubbard@ardenthealth.com.