Points from Paul

Opportunity Knocks

Welcome to the new and improved CoreSource Report, our monthly newsletter for CoreSource employees. In this space each month, I’ll share my thoughts about some of the important issues going on at CoreSource and in the self-funded benefits industry. This month, I’d like to talk about opportunity. The success of CoreSource in the future will depend largely on our ability to take advantage of opportunities — both those we create for ourselves, and those that are created for us. I’ve got a couple of examples to illustrate my point:

CoreCare

Back in April, we announced Trustmark’s investment in D2Hawkeye, a data mining and analytics software company based in Waltham, Mass. A big reason that Trustmark made the investment in D2 was because of the opportunities it created for CoreSource. We knew back then that D2’s technology gave us the opportunity to develop new reporting and medical management solutions for our clients; our job was to capitalize on that opportunity and actually develop products that would enhance our value proposition.

I’m pleased to report that over the last six months, we’ve taken that opportunity and turned it into a successful product. Last month we introduced CoreCare, a suite of “total population management” products, all of which are powered by D2Hawkeye’s industry-leading technology. The philosophy behind CoreCare is simple — by encouraging plan members to see their doctor for important preventive screenings today, we can reduce their utilization of high-cost services down the road. As you’ll read in this edition of the CoreSource Report, sales of CoreCare are already outpacing our expectations, after just a few weeks in the marketplace.

CoreCare is still very much a work in progress. We’ll continue to refine and improve the program in 2008, and expect even greater results in 2009. But even in this early stage of the game, CoreCare is a great example of how we are creating our own opportunities.

Fiserv Sale

You probably heard the news a couple of weeks ago that UnitedHealthCare is planning to acquire Fiserv Health. You might think that our largest competitor being purchased by the nation’s largest health insurer would be a cause for concern, but I think we should see it as an opportunity instead — an opportunity to get out there and tell our story to brokers, clients and potential clients.

Many self-funded employers simply don’t like the idea of putting their ASO business with UnitedHealthCare or one of the other large health carriers. They view the “big guys” (correctly, if you ask me) as large, inflexible, and unresponsive to their unique needs. TPAs like CoreSource, on the other hand, offer flexibility and personalized service that can be tailored to the needs of each individual employer group. The uncertainly around how Fiserv clients will be integrated into the UnitedHealth corporation provides us with a golden opportunity to remind brokers and clients why they chose a TPA to administer their plan in the first place.

In short, I believe our growth and profitability in the years to come will be driven in large part by our ability to recognize opportunities and move quickly to take advantage of them - whether we create the opportunities ourselves (like we did with CoreCare), or jump on opportunities created by the decisions of others (Fiserv). Next month, I’ll take a look back at the successes and challenges of 2007 — and the opportunities (there’s that word again) that lay ahead in 2008 and beyond. Until then, I wish you and your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Paul