HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 2

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Danice Picraux

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PRIVATE MANAGED CARE PLANS OPERATING IN THE STATE TO ADOPT THE MEDICAL HOME MODEL OF CARE.

     WHEREAS, the medical home model of care is an integrated care management model that emphasizes primary medical care that is designed to be continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, accessible, compassionate and culturally appropriate; and

     WHEREAS, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that a broad coalition of health care stakeholders, including the American medical association, all of the major national health plans, most of the Fortune 500 companies, consumer organizations and labor unions and a total of seventeen medical specialty societies, have endorsed the medical home model as providing high-quality care at a lower overall cost; and

     WHEREAS, through the integrated care offered in the medical home, patients are reported to receive the type of care that will timely address health conditions; and

     WHEREAS, by emphasizing wellness and prevention, the medical home model of care is reported to produce greater overall patient well-being; and

     WHEREAS, the medical home may support communities' social and economic development by contributing to better health among community members; and

     WHEREAS, the world health organization has taken the position that a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, is a fundamental human right and that the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a most important worldwide social goal; and

     WHEREAS, the idea behind managed care is not just to provide health care services, but to manage them in terms of cost and quality so that patients whose care is managed are kept healthy and costs are kept low; and

     WHEREAS, the medical home model presents some challenges for billing within many private managed care plans, in that providers cannot always bill for the work they do in coordinating care; and

     WHEREAS, some insurers and managed care organizations have failed to recognize the potential of medical homes to create greater financial outcomes because the medical home model represents an early investment of human and material capital in order to maintain health and prevent illness that may be lost when individuals in whom these investments are made disenroll from a plan; and

     WHEREAS, the investment of human and material capital into the medical home model should be recognized as providing an overall improvement in a community's health, which will benefit all managed care organizations within a market where medical homes are used;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that managed care organizations operating in the state be requested to use the medical home model of care for their enrollees in order to promote better patient health and greater well-being while recognizing that investment in the medical home will eventually reap greater financial rewards by all managed care organizations operating within a community; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the superintendent of insurance, the chair and vice chair of the legislative finance committee and the chief operating officers of the managed care organizations operating in the state.

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