from Staff
U.S. Preventive Medicine, a company building the first health network focused on prevention in the United States and internationally, announced on Friday it will create its first ever national and international operations center in Jacksonville.
The company, which offers a suite of wellness, chronic care management and early disease detection programs, plans to expand from its current Jacksonville location on Hartley Road, which has served as a regional office, to larger office space, likely in Southside, in the second quarter of 2008. U.S. Preventive Medicine will maintain its headquarters in Dallas, Texas.
“We chose Jacksonville as our operations hub because of its substantial health care talent pool and because it is conveniently equidistant to our U.S. and United Kingdom operations,” said Frederic S. Goldstein, the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer. The company recently announced its expansion into the United Kingdom.
“Another consideration for this city was the acquisition late last year of Specialty Disease Management Services, which was based in Jacksonville,” added Goldstein. “That brought in an exceptionally skilled management team who are putting this company quickly on a successful U.S. and international growth trajectory.”
In conjunction with the move, U.S. Preventive Medicine is hiring 20 new employees during the first quarter of 2008 in the areas of call center support, IT, health management coordination and sales and marketing. The company expects the Jacksonville office to grow by more than 100 positions in the coming year, with another 100 personnel hired throughout the U.S. and U.K. as the company is awarded additional contracts. U.S. Preventive Medicine currently has 60 employees.
“We are growing quickly, and to deliver on our promise of giving individuals ‘more good years’ through innovative programs, we need to be able to operate efficiently and nimbly,” said Goldstein. “The most important thing we can do is continue to develop preventive services and products that address the health care crisis facing our country.”
Helping the company achieve its goals is Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and four-term Governor of Wisconsin. As the company’s national policy advisor, Thompson is assisting the company in mobilizing employers, government entities and health care providers to focus on prevention as the solution to the health crisis facing the nation.
“Everyone is preaching that prevention is a good thing, but until now, no one entity has surfaced that could pull all the pieces together,” said Thompson. “U.S. Preventive Medicine has wrapped a business model around prevention, early detection and chronic condition management that is exactly the solution our country needs.
“I am proud to serve as national policy advisor, knowing that there is heavy lifting ahead,” he added. “But we intend to bring the best and brightest in our nation together to solve this impending crisis.”
During the past 12 months, U.S. Preventive Medicine has evolved from a development stage company into an integrated, preventive health care company providing comprehensive health care services in seven states for individuals with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, HIV/AIDS, high risk pregnancies, mental illness and other complex conditions.
The company also is launching The Prevention Plan, a program that enables individuals to determine their top health risks and receive a customized plan to lower those risks and become healthier. The Centers for Preventive Medicine, now being expanded across the nation, provides early disease detection assessments through advanced diagnostic technology.
U.S. Preventive Medicine and The Center for Preventive Medicine do not themselves provide physician or professional services. All physician services are provided by independent practitioners exercising independent professional medical judgment. For more information, visit www.uspreventivemedicine.com.