CFMC Achieves ISO 9001:2000 Certification

January 12, 2004

Denver, CO – The Colorado Foundation for Medical Care (CFMC) today announced that it has achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification, an international quality management standard published by the International Organization for Standardization.

ISO 9001:2000 focuses on quality management by examining what an organization does to ensure that its products and services meet its customers' needs. A recent audit conducted by ISO registrar Platinum Registration, Inc. confirmed that CFMC meets the standard for ISO 9001:2000 certification. The certification is valid for three years.

The not-for-profit Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, based in Aurora, is Colorado's Medicare quality improvement organization (QIO). Every state has a designated Medicare QIO that works with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help ensure that America's Medicare beneficiaries receive the highest quality health care possible. With approximately 90 employees, CFMC provides quality improvement and utilization review services for Medicare, Medicaid and other public and private clients.

"ISO certification reaffirms CFMC's commitment to quality improvement," said Arja P. Adair, Jr., CFMC's CEO. "Besides helping us continue to improve how we perform, it demonstrates to our customers that we also 'walk the walk.'"

The ISO 9001:2000 standard represents an international consensus on what constitutes quality management practices that help organizations provide appropriate products or services and meet client requirements. ISO certification has been a benchmark in the manufacturing sector for many years. More recently, many other industries adopted the ISO standard, including consulting firms, pharmaceutical companies and health care organizations.

"Platinum Registration stands on the principles of ethical, thorough, precise and fair assessments," said Kerri Williams, Chief Executive of Platinum. "We maintain a focus on using the registration to encourage our clients to develop efficient and effective business processes to support customer satisfaction and profitability. During the CFMC assessment, the Platinum Lead Assessor said that the team was impressed with the approach that CFMC took in the development of their processes and, in particular, thought that the mechanisms developed for objective setting and continuous improvement were among the best that they had ever observed."

As part of CFMC's preparation for the ISO audit, all of the company's policies, procedures and documents were reviewed, and when necessary, revised. Work instructions were also written to ensure that tasks are performed in a consistent, efficient manner. Documents received unique codes to ensure each is appropriately controlled and has a designated "owner."

"Our mission is to develop and offer an array of services that assist providers and consumers in the evaluation and improvement of health care," said Beth Katzenberg, CFMC's Corporate Quality and Compliance Director. "Our ISO certification confirms to our customers that we will focus on their goals just as seriously as we examine our own."

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