SYRACUSE — POMCO Group, a third-party administrator of self-funded health-care and risk-management plans, recently announced it will be expanding its geographic reach in the West while also boosting hiring locally.

On Sept. 16, the Syracuse–based firm announced it will expand its service offerings into additional regions of the country, including Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The expansion follows “increased interest” in self-funded group health and workers’- compensation plans from regions outside of POMCO Group’s “core focus,” the firm said in a news release.

POMCO Group is targeting the five western states because it has relationships with brokers and self-funded organizations in those regions, the firm added.

The firm has seen “a lot of opportunity” in the self-funded area in those regions, says Donald Napier, senior executive vice president at POMCO.

“Over the years of looking at different target areas, we’ve gotten a lot of strong interest of being in those areas just based on what we’ve done in the Northeast,” Napier says.

POMCO considered acquisition opportunities and but felt expanding its service region was the better approach based upon what it saw in the marketplace, Napier says.

The company is limiting the expansion to those five states for the next five years. POMCO Group’s recently opened office in Fresno, Calif. is servicing the expanded region, the firm said.

POMCO on Sept. 20 announced it named Lawrence Thompson as regional president for its western expansion.

Thompson recently served as senior vice president for HealthNow New York and managed the benefits-administration services of the company’s third-party administrator (TPA), HealthNow Administrative Services (HNAS).

POMCO has also hired a sales representative for the Fresno office and is pursuing “additional” staff for that area, Napier says, figuring the office will grow to include 30 employees in the next three years.

The firm declined to disclose the number of companies it is servicing in those five states.

POMCO is hoping for 25 to 30 percent revenue growth within the next three years with its western expansion.

Headquartered in the Eastwood section of Syracuse, POMCO Group primarily serves the Northeast region.

However, changes in the health-care industry, including “escalating” health-insurance premiums and “complex” health-care reform regulations, have forced organizations across the country to pursue options to traditional health insurance, according to POMCO Group.

“Not in recent times, if ever, has the health care industry experienced such a massive, comprehensive transformation,” Robert Pomfrey, president and CEO of POMCO Group, said in the news release.

“Organizations are looking for answers and they are looking for innovative, cost-effective options; we have both and we aren’t limited to where in the nation we can offer our solutions,” Pomfrey said.

As a benefits administrator, POMCO Group targets employer groups that fund their employees’ health-care costs rather than pay insurance premiums, a financial strategy termed self-funding, the firm said.

Self-funding not only allows organizations to eliminate insurance premiums, including retention and profit fees, it also allows them to control costs by designing plans that are fully customized to the needs of the group, POMCO Group contends.

Besides its Syracuse headquarters and the new Fresno office, POMCO Group operates offices in Binghamton, Watertown, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, Westchester, New York City.

NY State of Health hiring

POMCO Group on Sept. 20 announced it is hiring about 40 employees following the firm’s selection as an administrator for a health plan that’ll be available through NY State of Health, New York’s health-insurance marketplace.

POMCO announced in April 2012 that Freelancers Union had selected the firm as the administrator of the New York Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP), which is also known as Health Republic Insurance of New York, the firm said in a news release.

Freelancers Union, which has more than 171,000 members nationwide, is sponsoring CO-OPs in New York, New Jersey and Oregon through nonprofit organizations in each state, POMCO said in an April 5, 2012 news release.

The Brooklyn–based Freelancers Union already offers members health-insurance coverage through its social-purpose Freelancers Insurance Company, for rates that are about one-third less than other insurers, according to POMCO.

As part of its agreement, POMCO Group will handle all customer service, claims processing, and various other plan-management aspects for CO-OP members.

The level of service that is required for the CO-OP members will “initially be slightly different” than that for typical POMCO Group members, the company said.

The new representatives will need an “intimate” knowledge of the CO-OP plans, along with other aspects of the exchange as well, Sherry Fraser, director of claims and customer service at POMCO, said in today’s news release.

“While this has certainly been a learning process for us, the one thing that is not new to us is our ability to deliver excellent customer service to our members no matter what type of plan they have,” Fraser said.

In addition to hiring and training new employees, POMCO Group has also added 18,000 square feet to its corporate headquarters at 2425 James St. in Syracuse to accommodate the additional workers, the firm said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com