National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
New Measures Development
2000 L Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC  20036

Dear Sir/Madam

We represent XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and are empowered by the state (or county
or whatever) to promote ant assist Breastfeeding within our region.
A copy of our charter is included for your review.  The prupose of this
letter is to officially request your assistance in supporting our
initiatives.

Breastfeeding, as you know, is the baby's first immunization and is one
of the easiest ways to improve the health among newgborn members of
HMO's.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of studies that all support
the known belief that breastfeeding is the most superior form of infant
nutrition.  Anong other benefits, breastfeeding is known to help infants by:

+       reducing the number of middle ear infections
+       lowering the rates of respiratior illnesses
+       reducing the severity of illnesses that do occur
+       higher IQ's
+       reduce allergic reactions
+       reduce length of stay in Neonatatl Intensive Care units

The benefits of breastfeeding are so overwhelming that the Surgeon
General, World Health Organization and The American Academy of Pediatrics
all recommend breastfeeding as the sole nutritional source for newborns.
For your review, we are enclosing the breastfeeding posicy statement by
Healthy People 2000.

Since the National Committee on Quality Assurance is the premier
accreditation organization for managed care companies, we formally
request you monitor and set a minimum standard of breastfeeding support
that a managed care company must provide prior to gaining NCQA
accreditation.  Our thought is to request managed care companies to
report breastfeedign initiation and duration rates as part of their HEDIS
measures.  Included in their HEDIS reporting should be proof that not
only is there a concentratedare Positively impacting the rate at which
their members breastfeed.

Some criteria that would guarantee quality lactation support could be:

+  Insure that breastfeeding education is provided to each expectant member
+  require that all hospitals within the HMO's network are certified or
have made substantial progress to becoming certified as part of the Baby
Friendly Hospital Initiative.
+  HMO's must monitor and improve the breastfeeding initiation and
duration rates of their members
+  require HMO's to provide member access to Board Certified Lactation
Consultants as part of routine post-partum care.


For your consideration, we are enclosing breastfeeding policy statements
that add additional credibility to this very serious topic.  We would
greatly appreciate a response by your organization within 30 days with
information detailing the efforts you will be taking to support this
important health issue.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[This is not an origional letter, but one which was developed by the
Georgia Breastfeeding Task Force, with permission to copy and send.  They
suggest enclosing a copy of the Healthy People 2000 Nutrition Objectives
and the AUTHORIZED Summary of Policy Statement on Breastfeeding from the
AAP.  This summary was only just completed by June Hartman Winfield,
IBCLC and our own Pat Bull, RN, IBCLC on May 29, 1998]

Thank you, everyone, for your help in pursuing yet another goal:  HMO's
supporting Breastfeeding!


Margery Forrest
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