State incentives will add up to 521 jobs at healthcare companies

A pair of healthcare company expansions approved for state incentives will lead to the creation of up to 521 jobs in Salt Lake County during the next five years. Healthcare services company Connexion Point, based in Salt Lake City, will hire 221 people for its $9 million project, and pharmacy service PillPack will add 300 jobs in a $32 million expansion.

A pair of healthcare company expansions approved for state incentives will lead to the creation of up to 521 jobs in Salt Lake County during the next five years.

Healthcare services company Connexion Point, based in Salt Lake City, will hire 221 people for its $9 million project, and pharmacy service PillPack will add 300 jobs in a $32 million expansion. The announcements from each company came last week after both were approved for tax credit incentives by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board.

Founded in 2010, privately owned Connexion Point connects the healthcare industry and consumers through streamlined data and analytics to simplify healthcare processes. Its clients include some of the largest health insurance payers and providers in the nation. The company has regional offices in Florida, Texas, Tennessee and Utah. It is ranked on the Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000 for the past three consecutive years, including ranking as the 86th-fastest-growing privately held company in the nation, 12th-fastest-growing in healthcare, and fastest the growing in Utah.

“We think the opportunity is right with this new partnership with the state of Utah to help in the disruption of healthcare, to help consumers take control as we put them in the center of their own healthcare,” Robert McMichael, president and chief executive officer of Connexion Point, told the board.

McMichael said the company “will be able to take talent from within the state of Utah and train them up into world-class technology professionals. In addition, we recognize we’re still going to have to attract talent from around the country and from around the world, frankly, into the state of Utah, and the partnership with Utah that we’re able to realize today is a key factor in us being able to realize that.”

The incentive of $944,571 is connected to 221 jobs that will pay a total of $73.8 million over five years, and new state tax revenues are expected to total about $4.7 million during that period. The company is considering sites in Sandy for the expansion. Jerry Oldroyd, chairman of the GOED board’s incentives committee, said Utah competed for the project with other states where the company has operations.

“It’s a competitive industry, it’s a competitive situation, it’s got strong local support,” Oldroyd said of the expansion.

PillPack operates a pharmacy designed specifically for customers who are managing complex or chronic conditions and are on regular medication schedules. Its service individually packages medications organized by time and day and delivers the medications directly to homes and has pharmacists on call 24 hours a day through email, phone or online chat. The company’s pharmacy and distribution center is in Manchester, New Hampshire, and its engineering, design and marketing teams are in Somerville, Massachusetts.

“There’s 40 million Americans that take five or more prescription medications every single day and only 50 percent of those are taken as prescribed by their physician, and it’s costing the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars a year, and we’re chipping away at trying to solve that problem,” Geoff Swindle, chief business officer, told the GOED board, adding that the company is doubling its number of customers every four months.

The PillPack expansion of up to 300 jobs is expected to create new state wages of about $50 million over five years and generate new state tax revenues of more than $2 million during that time. The GOED board approved a tax credit incentive of $410,646.

“We looked at it,” Oldroyd said, “and thought it’s a great opportunity for the state as well as the consumer.”