July 17, 2006
Area's Medicare Contractor Earns ISO 9001:2000 Certification
The Medicare operations division of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas in Topeka has received a business certification that states its quality management system is in compliance with ISO 9001:2000. A certified quality management system is a requirement the company needs in order to bid on the Jurisdiction 5 (Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri) Medicare Administrative Contract later this year.
The company’s Topeka facilities earned the ISO 9001:2000 certification from Quality Management Institute (QMI). The certification is in force until January 2009 upon successful completion of annual surveillance audits.
“We are proud to have earned this certification because it validates that we have a quality management system that assures high performance when it comes to serving the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, providers and beneficiaries,” said Doug Scott, chief operating officer for Medicare operations.
BCBSKS is currently the fiscal intermediary for Medicare Part A in Kansas and the carrier for Medicare Part B in Kansas, Nebraska and Northwest Missouri, serving more than 878,000 Medicare beneficiaries. In 2005, its Medicare operations division processed more than 20.2 million claims in excess of $2.7 billion.
“The written work instructions that we have formalized to obtain this certification serve as the foundation for all our daily work processes,” Scott said. “They are essential to providing quality training opportunities for all employees and show that if everyone follows the steps necessary to complete their work we’ll achieve optimum results.”
The company will bid for the Jurisdiction 5 contract later this year; Jurisdiction 5 covers Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.
“CMS is requiring that companies interested in bidding for a MAC contract have a certified quality management system so it is essential that we both achieved this certification as well as maintain it,” Scott said. “We continually validate our certification through internal audits and, if we find a deficiency, we’ll take immediate corrective action.
“Working under a certified quality management system is a discipline that ultimately becomes a way of life for our Medicare employees,” he said.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. BCBSKS is the state's largest health insurer, serving all Kansas counties except Johnson and Wyandotte.
- Back -