Collective Health to establish SLC operational hub

Collective Health, a healthcare technology company, will expand into Utah and add hundreds of jobs through the creation of an operational hub in Salt Lake City.

The San Francisco-based company, which also has an engineering hub in Chicago, said it will confirm the location of the new Salt Lake City hub in early 2019. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}

During the December meeting of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board, a presentation slide from an Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) briefing indicated the project would result in 500 jobs.

Founded in 2013, Collective Health offers a “workforce health management system” that provides employers a platform to simultaneously manage their healthcare investment and take better care of their people, the company said. It combines health plan, concierge support, engagement hub and analytics into one system. Collective Health has more than 200,000 members and 45 enterprise clients. It surpassed 500 employees this year.

“Collective Health is very thoughtful about where it does business,” the company told The Enterprise via email following its expansion announcement. “With headquarters in San Francisco and an engineering hub in Chicago, there’s a clear pattern of identifying where innovation is happening, where we can attract the right talent, and where communities and businesses are thriving and supporting each other.

“Utah is continuously ranked as one of the best states for businesses and there’s a strong support system between businesses, the government and local communities. Salt Lake City is a thriving and passionate community, with a fantastic talent pool, excellent universities, and a vibrant local scene — but there’s also an energy and natural beauty here that is unmatched.”

The Utah expansion will be led by Scott Murray, who has joined the company as senior vice president of operations. He previously spent more than 15 years at eBay, where he was vice president of customer service product and technology solutions and played a key role in eBay’s expansion in Utah.

“Customers want and deserve a better healthcare experience. Collective Health is leading the way to make this a reality,” Murray said. “The company has experienced exponential growth while protecting and increasing the trust of its members. I’m thrilled to be a part of the industry transformation Collective Health is driving.”

Representatives from EDCUtah and GOED met with the company’s co-founder and CEO, Ali Diab, in January 2017 as part of EDCUtah’s global strategy and outreach (GS&O) efforts. A subsequent meeting in February of this year formerly established what was code-named Project Genie. It was renamed Project Barkley in the summer when the company hired a site-selection group to evaluate several West Coast markets. EDCUtah and GOED pitched Utah during three site visits, multiple research reports, and a visit by Gov. Gary R. Herbert to Collective Health’s San Francisco headquarters.

“We are thrilled that Collective Health has chosen Utah for its most recent expansion,” said Theresa Foxley, EDCUtah’s president and CEO. “Utah continues to find success with companies that are a blend of two strong industries in Utah, and Collective Health is no exception.”

“Collective Health is modernizing the health insurance industry, and we could not be more excited that they have selected Utah to expand their operations,” said Val Hale, GOED’s executive director. “Their customer-focused approach is helping individuals achieve better healthcare and helping a broad spectrum of industries achieve a healthier workforce. We welcome them to the state.”

Collective Health said its platform approach and member service has helped employers better manage and reduce healthcare costs. A report released earlier this year by the company revealed a 0.3 percent decrease in year-over-year costs for clients who had been on the platform for at least two years.

“When we set out five years ago, we had a hypothesis that by applying the latest enterprise software technology and user experience design, we could empower American employers to take the reins of their $1.2 trillion in annual healthcare spend,” Diab said. “Five years on, self-insured employers are using Collective Health at an accelerating and national scale to take control of their healthcare investments. Employers recognize the power and value that our modern technology platform and large-scale data science capabilities provide, including the flexibility and transparency they need to deliver an unmatched health benefits experience to their people while making their employee healthcare budgets go as far as they possibly can.”

The company has expanded its partner ecosystem, now with more than 140 health partnerships, and enabled more than 600 integrations in conjunction with its customers. By centralizing data feeds across its platform, Collective Health said, the company allows clients to save time and costs while harnessing the latest innovations to address common health issues like behavioral health, maternity and fertility, and more.

“By building our technology from the ground up, Collective Health is able to simplify complex healthcare experiences and burdensome administration,” said Dr. Rajaie Batniji, co-founder and chief health officer of Collective Health. “The Collective Health platform brings clarity and streamlines benefits so members can intuitively navigate the healthcare system and take advantage of the programs being offered by employers. The proof points we demonstrated across experience, engagement and cost management are leading to increased interest and adoption from companies of all sizes, and across all industries.”{/mprestriction}