Dive Brief:
- New York City-based Oscar Health is moving into a 95,000 square office and hiring 200 new employees in Tempe, Arizona, despite not currently serving the Arizona health insurance market.
- Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser selected Tempe for multiple reasons, but primarily because it has a ready workforce with the type of experience the insurer needs to build up quickly, he told the Phoenix Business Journal.
- While Oscar currently offers plans in New York City, New Jersey, Dallas-Fort Worth (TX), Los Angeles and Orange County (CA), Schlosser said the Arizona office will be key to their efforts toward expanding each year and building up their western markets.
Dive Insight:
Oscar selected the Phoenix area over others including Denver and Salt Lake City due to its "convergence of experienced customer service and healthcare workers,” Schlosser told the Phoenix Business Journal. “We are a disruptive healthcare insurer, and the new office will give us a presence in the west,” he said.
Location matters to the insurer because it doesn't operate like any other, he said. Every member is assigned a four-person team comprised of three customer care representatives and a licensed registered nurse, with the goal of creating personal connections.
“The teams will become familiar with our customers," Schlosser said. "They will make appointments, find specialists, and answer all questions about coverage and billing. With a nurse on the team, there will be a personal connection and trust because of ongoing service.”
The location also provides Oscar the west coast time zone, a reputation for lower company turnover which will help maintain that personal consistency, a high quality of life attractive to future candidates, and the ability to open quickly, with its target being July.