I want to thank each and every one of you, our 13,000 caregivers, for the great work you have done in support of improving the health of our patients this past year.

2016 was a great year for UMass Memorial Health Care. We saw across the board improvements in quality, service, engagement and posted our third straight year of profitability.  How did we do it?  The answer is clear: over the past three years we have implemented 35,000 of your ideas on how to improve. We listened to you 35,000 more times than we had in the previous three years and that has made all the difference in the world for our patients and our caregivers.

In 2017 your leadership team is going to listen even more intently and work even harder to reach our True North goal of making UMass Memorial Health Care the “best place to give care and the best place to get care.” We are all on this journey together and the success and bumps in the road will be felt together as a team. Once we reach our goal, it will be an accomplishment that belongs to each of us.

It is precisely for these reasons – a shared journey and pursuit of being the best place possible for our patients and our caregivers – that I love being a part of UMass Memorial Health Care. I hope you feel the same way.

On behalf of the leadership and board of trustees of UMass Memorial Health Care I want to wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season!

Thanks for all of your great ideas and for taking great care of our patients and each other,

Eric