Because of Bill Van Faasen's leadership, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is stronger than ever by every measure of performance. Further, our company is extraordinary in regard to the talents and skills of our associates. This gives us a unique opportunity to step up to enormous new challenges in health care.
For nearly a decade, our promise to put our members first has been our focus and critical to our success. During 2004, we engaged in a companywide process to identify how we can provide even more value to our members and the community. The result is that we are committed to doing everything we can to help our members live longer, healthier lives. Our expanded promise: to put our members' HEALTH first.
We are professionally and personally dedicated to this promise, as you can see in this Annual Report. Yet, as we proceed, we realize that the care our members receive is only as good as the system that provides it. We need, therefore, to collaborate with others on a plan that achieves higher standards of care and more affordable access to the right services at the right time.
Health care needs to be safer, more effective, more affordable, and more accessible. These are very complex issues for which solutions, thus far, have eluded individual efforts. Now is the time for all stakeholders to work together on an outcome that allows our community to reach its highest aspiration of care.
The kind of change--transformation--we need is within reach. Massachusetts is an international leader in health care. We have the talent and resources to transform health care, and we must apply them to retain our state's pre-eminence. In the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, you will see Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts reaching out as a collaborator, convener, supporter, investor, and facilitator on this agenda.
All of us at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts are enthusiastic about the opportunity in front of us, and most grateful to Bill Van Faasen for leading us to such a bright future. For me, Bill has been an inspiration and a coach. I look forward to a continuing partnership with him as we move the company ahead.
Cleve L. Killingsworth
President and Chief Operating Officer