You’ll recall that I’ve mentioned our focus on promoting many new ideas to external stakeholders to better measure industry interest on new URAC products that improve quality and value for patients before we “build them out.” These are typically proposed due to strong interest or newsworthiness on a topic. Not all of these ideas will become products, but some will.

This is my first April in DC. As I write this, the cherry blossoms are about to “pop” around the city and a few of the early trees are already looking like popcorn. Baseball season is about to start and everyone is seeing the end of the cold weather. It’s an exciting time for me in DC, although I miss my family.

It hasn’t even been a full month since my first day as the CEO (feels longer doesn’t it?). I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for welcoming me to the URAC family and helping me as I come on board. Although the daily work can sometimes distract from the bigger purpose, URAC gives each of us the opportunity to improve the healthcare for people across the nation and for our loved ones.

Hello! I’m the new person in the office. I think we will have a chance to learn more about each other over the next few weeks, but, just to make things easy, I’ll go first.