New Year Brings POMCO Continued Growth

1/28/2009

POMCO recently welcomed several new clients to its roster, including the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Syracuse University. These new clients cumulatively represent more than 23,000 new POMCO covered members.

POMCO Group also recently expanded its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) support offerings for carriers through the acquisition of a Massachusetts-based national insurance services provider, Pioneer Administrative Services. That move enables POMCO to provide "back-office" support to the insurance and benefits administration industry, consolidate and grow its student health business, and broaden the reach of its provider network into Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut.

Pioneer operates as an independent subsidiary of POMCO Group. POMCO's other subsidiaries include its EM Risk Management workers' compensation and EB Services employee benefit statements divisions.

To accommodate its business growth, POMCO's workforce has grown 17 percent from this time last year, with another 40-60 employees in claims, medical services and other departments expected to be added later this year. The company currently has 400 employees - approximately 300 of those located in its Eastwood headquarters.

POMCO President & CEO Robert W. Pomfrey primarily attributed the company's success to two factors: its proven track record of saving on clients' benefit costs and the customized, client-centric services provided by POMCO's employees. Over the past eight years, POMCO's average book of business premium equivalents increased just 7.8 percent, compared with nearly 11 percent for a typical fully-insured plan.

"Using our self-funding model, we're consistently able to save more than the average fully-insured plan," Pomfrey said. "This, combined with the dedicated client service that our 'POMCO People' provide, is what enables our organization to thrive in any economic climate. You can't put a price on quality, personalized service."

In addition to securing many new clients, POMCO was able to grow the amount of services desired by several of its existing clients, including Stickley Furniture, the North Syracuse Central School District and Crouse Hospital.

Nationwide, the percentage of companies currently receiving benefits through employer-sponsored self-insured group plans has grown to approximately 55 percent, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). That number is up from 33 percent reported in a 2000 EBRI report. That report added that self-insuring enables employers to exercise more customization and flexibility over the benefits it wants to cover for its unique workforce. Another key advantage of self-insuring is that employers - not the insurance company - maintain control over any health plan reserves, enabling them to maximize interest income.

News Release - Business Journal