Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Renews Veritude Staffing Agreement

Business Wire, May 12, 2005

BOSTON -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), the largest health insurance company in the state, has extended its relationship for vendor management services with Veritude, a leading provider of strategic human resources. BCBSMA has retained Veritude as its central point of contact for the recruiting of temporary, or contingent, health care, administrative and professional workers. Veritude provides staffing and related technology services as well as workforce consulting.

During the three-year agreement, Veritude will lead an alliance of staffing companies committed to contributing to BCBSMA's objectives to recruit and deploy a diverse workforce. The contract anticipates significant levels of business being directed to minority- and women-owned firms as a way to further the insurance company's diversity objectives.

"The many communities we serve and their constituents are very important to us," says BCBSMA Director of Workforce Planning Susan Birdsey. "Based on our experience with Veritude, we are confident that both our staffing goals - and our workforce diversity objectives - will be met and that our community will benefit from this renewed relationship."

In 2001, BCBSMA became Veritude's first commercial client, contracting for vendor management assistance as well as supplemental staffing services. Vendor management is the process of overseeing and coordinating staffing suppliers and service providers to ensure consistent quality and billing rates.

"Blue Cross Blue Shield's decision to renew its relationship with us means a lot," says Peter Dennis, Veritude senior vice president for staffing services. "It means we've done a solid job for them in the past, and it challenges us to be an even better partner in the future. In fact, our goal is to perform so well that we essentially train another outfit, a minority-owned firm, to take over this function from us."

Implementation of the terms of the new BCBSMA-Veritude agreement is underway and will be completed by the end of May.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, Inc.

Headquartered in Boston, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts provides coverage to 2.7 million members. Consistently recognized for standards of service that are among the highest in the nation, BCBSMA is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. For more information, visit www.bcbsma.com.

About Veritude

Veritude provides strategic human resources - the talent, technology and tactics that growing firms need in order to anticipate and adapt to changes in the workplace - and is part of Fidelity's ongoing investment and leadership in outsourced HR services. For more information, visit www.veritude.com.