The New Mexico Fact Sheet  (pdf)                                                                                                                                                                                                             

The Taking on Diabetes (TOD) initiative held the initial meeting of the Albuquerque, New Mexico community partnership pilot site on November 17, 1999.  The meeting was attended by TOD staff representing AAHP and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), as well as by representatives of the AAHP member plans operating in the area (Health Care Horizons, Presbyterian Health System, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico), and New Mexico Medical Review Association (NMMRA), the local Peer Review Organization.  

The health plans developed four proposed collaborative projects:

-Develop community-wide care delivery standards (a common guideline) – Through an analysis of health plans’ existing protocols and practice recommendations, common elements of care delivery (including screening, education, and treatment) will be identified and simplified into one comprehensive set of recommendations.

-Agree on a shared set of performance measures – Use the above-mentioned care delivery standards to establish a common, mutually agreed upon set of performance measures that will be collected across all health plans in the community.

-Design a community profiling mechanism – Working in consultation with the TOD evaluation workgroup and staff, participating plans in the community  will create a performance profiling tool. The profile will serve as a basis for pooling data across plans, allowing for more thorough and consistent evaluation of practice and outcomes over time.  An independent partner (such as NMMRA) will be identified to assist in developing the profile.

-Develop and disseminate a toolkit for professional practice – The toolkit will contain validated tools designed to assist in the achievement of mutually agreed upon performance, treatment, and screening goals.

Since this first meeting, the partnership has expanded to other community organizations, including: