As the year ends, we at URAC have much for which we can be proud.  2018 was another year of strong financial performance.  We will finish the year with a strong operating margin, achieving the highest revenue in our history.  While we continue to be challenged by a significant lag in new business sales, our management of the organization resulted in our achievement of other financial goals.

Late August brought a series of changes to URAC’s organizational structure and its people. As you know, our Board of Directors strategy retreat in July resulted in affirmation of our three-year strategic plan and crystalized the thinking of our executive team. We made a commitment to put additional resources into building our capabilities and stimulating innovation to achieve breakthrough top line growth for 2018 and beyond.

There are many things that stimulate our thinking when URAC considers development of new products, and we have sound criteria for evaluating each new idea. The genesis of our latest development effort, Genetics and Precision Medicine, was brought to us by scientists and clinicians who perceived a need to better organize the system of delivering care to people who are among our most vulnerable: people with genetic disorders.

It is hard to believe it is June!  We have reached the time of the year when we take stock of our results for the first half of 2017 and begin planning for the coming year. We will reflect on our collective and individual performance using the mid-year review process this month, and preparation for the 2018 budget will begin in July.

Early in the first quarter, URAC fielded our employee pulse check survey. Participation was nearly 70 percent, which is impressive, given that it has been a number of years since we surveyed staff. A few weeks after we compiled the responses of the pulse check, the results were shared at an all-staff meeting. But that was just the beginning.

As you heard at the February all staff meeting, URAC’s Board of Directors has given approval to proceed with the development of a Genetics/Precision Medicine (GPM) specialty network accreditation.

Today is the final day to participate in the Work Environment Pulse Check.  Thank you to all of those who participated.