With the tremendous amount of work centered on health care reform it would have been easy to lose sight of our most important daily task, which is providing our members with outstanding service. I am extremely proud that our employees continued their commitment to providing our members award-winning service, while also remaining active in supporting the communities in which we live and work.
For a fourth consecutive year, our company was awarded the Highest Customer Satisfaction Award in the health care industry by Service Quality Measurement Group (SQM). In addition, we became the first company within the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to be designated a “World Class Certified Call Center” by SQM.
We also earned a pair of awards from the Association for our achievements in 2010. We earned our fourth straight Brand Excellence Award for Provider Satisfaction, adding our first Brand Excellence Award for Member Retention.
Our financial impact on Kansas also grew in 2010 as we contributed $54 million in taxes and nearly $88.9 million in payroll. In addition, we surpassed the $2 billion mark in claims paid to health care providers through the 16.3 million claims we processed for our members. We remained a financially stable mutual insurance company as policyholders’ reserves increased in value due to investment gains as well as a contribution realized from our underwriting for the year.
Our employees also remained committed to improving the operational efficiency for which we are known, lowering our overall administrative costs to just 7.3 cents of a premium dollar.
On behalf of all Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas employees, allow me to express our appreciation for your continued business. We look forward to providing you outstanding service for many, many years to come.
Andrew C. Corbin, President/CEO