Parkland Community Health Plan, a publicly funded insurer serving the Dallas area, plans to hire about 100 new employees by the end of this year amid increased need for its services, according to a company announcement provided to Becker's.
Additionally, the insurer plans to expand its technology through a partnership with Cognizant, a professional services company, to refine business operations.
CEO John Wendling said the workforce and technology expansions support the Institute for Healthcare Improvements goals of "improving our members' healthcare experience, improving the quality of care and well-being for our members, while controlling the cost of care."
Parkland Community Health Plan, started more than 20 years ago by Dallas-based Parkland Health & Hospital System, offers health insurance services for low-income children, teens, pregnant women, and adults in seven counties. It has more than 6,000 physicians and more than 40 hospitals in its network.
The insurer said about half of the new staff will assume community and provider outreach roles, and 20 clinical employees will be hired to perform care management for members.
Early next year the health plan said it expects that Cognizant's technology platform will be fully implemented. The insurer will manage care, member services, provider relations, quality and data analytics in-house and have the opportunity to bring more functions in house in 2022 and 2023.
Mr. Wendling told The Dallas Morning News the insurer anticipates saving $20 million to $25 million over a five-year through the Cognizant partnership.