Highmark's mission, to provide "access to affordable, quality healthcare, enabling individuals to live longer, healthier lives," is matched only by its vision: to be "the leading customer-focused health insurer…, addressing the healthcare needs of individuals while maintaining our financial strength."

Meeting this goal - while facing the complexities of today's health insurance industry - is perhaps the company's primary business challenge. The rising cost of providing healthcare services to an aging population and consumer demand to hold the line on premium increases are squeezing insurers like Highmark. Increasing government and regulatory mandates add operational cost, as do required information technology investments. Because the market in which Highmark operates is pressured by increasing local and national competition, customers have far more choice in healthcare plans.

Interestingly, Highmark does not consider itself to be a "bleeding edge" adopter of technology. Yet the company's MESA system clearly positions it as one of the industry's most innovative health insurers.

"When you look at the size of the organization, the tool sets, the mainframe environment, and the scope of the data we deal with, what we're doing here is pretty impressive," says Tom Tabor, the CIO. "When it's all said and done, none of our competitors are doing better."