By Winthrop Quigley Journal Staff Writer
The University of New Mexico Cancer Center will become the exclusive medical oncology provider for Lovelace Health Plan members beginning Oct. 1, UNM and Lovelace announced Wednesday.
About 450 patients who are receiving care from other medical oncology practices will be affected, said UNM Cancer Center CEO Cheryl Willman. Those who are already in a course of treatment will remain with their current physicians until treatment is completed, she said, adding, “We don’t want to create patient chaos and disruption.”
Lovelace Health Plan CEO Dennis Wilson said the plan will not renew its contracts with two private medical oncology practices: New Mexico Cancer Center and Hematology Oncology Associates. However, Willman said, UNM Cancer Center works closely with Hematology Oncology Associates and expects to refer some cases there and collaborate on others.
Lovelace members will continue to receive radiation oncology care from Radiation Oncology Associates, with which Lovelace also has an exclusive provider agreement.
UNM will also assume responsibility for the oncology clinics located in Lovelace Health System facilities, including the Lovelace Medical Center near Downtown. UNM physicians have seen patients in Lovelace facilities for some time but did not control the clinics.
“We’ve decided to enter into an exclusive relationship with UNM Cancer Center, from the plan’s perspective, for quality reasons, for quality enhancement reasons,” Wilson said. Quality of care has always been good, but the UNM relationship will “bring it up a significant notch,” he said. He added that economic considerations “weren’t on the table” when the decision was made.
Wilson said the plan has evaluated outcome data and other measures and decided the best care was provided by UNM.
(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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