POMCO Group to add 65 employees at Syracuse headquarters by month’s end

SYRACUSE — POMCO Group, a Syracuse–based a third-party administrator of self-funded health-care and risk-management plans, today announced plans to add nearly 65 employees at its corporate headquarters by the end of July.

The employee growth is to accommodate the “continual rapid growth of the company’s plan membership” due to the impact of Health Republic Insurance of New York (HRINY), the Affordable Care Act’s consumer operated and oriented plan (CO-OP), POMCO said in the news release.

CO-OPs are private, member-governed health-insurance companies that are forming nationwide as part of the Affordable Care Act, according to the POMCO news release.

Health Republic Insurance of New York is one of 23 CO-OPs nationally and offers health benefits for both individuals and small businesses, according to the release.

Upon the completion of its July training class, POMCO Group will have hired 157 new employees since the beginning of 2013, bringing the company’s total staff to 610, it said.

POMCO Group’s partnership with HRINY is the “largest factor” behind the firm’s need to recruit additional people, the firm said.

It also cited the “organic” growth of its benefits administration and risk-management services, along with the expansion of its services into Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and California as reasons for adding employees.

POMCO Group at the start of 2014 partnered with HRINY as its claims administrator, customer-service call center, and medical-management provider.

Enrollment in the CO-OP has “vastly exceeded all expectations,” which has provided POMCO Group with a chance to expand the team that focuses on HRINY with additional “highly trained” customer service and claims specialists, the firm said.

“Our partnership with Health Republic Insurance of New York has not only allowed us to assist underserved members across the state of New York with their health-coverage needs, it has also given us an opportunity to bring more employment opportunities to Syracuse,” Bob Pomfrey, president and CEO of POMCO Group, said in the news release.

A recent expansion of POMCO Group’s headquarters at 2425 James St. provided the “necessary space” for the new employees, the company said. However, in order to accommodate this latest staff expansion, POMCO Group is “exploring new options for both training and future worksite locations,” the firm added.

This new round of hiring is the third “large-scale” recruitment effort that POMCO Group has conducted in the past year.

In the fall of 2013, the benefits administrator hired more than 40 customer service and claims associates in its Syracuse headquarters.

Six months later, POMCO recruited, trained, and added another 55 customer service and claims specialists.

In total, the staffing increases over the past year represent the “largest period of growth” in the firm’s 35 year history, POMCO Group said in its release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com