CareSource creates “hotel” for mobile workers

Aug. 09--CareSource's new downtown Dayton office space on the third and fourth floors of Kettering Tower will house about 260 workers, but Ohio's largest Medicaid managed care provider and private health insurer can accommodate many more workers in its new digs.

During an open house Tuesday, company officials highlighted the non-dedicated office space designed to promote collaboration and innovation as well as provide sufficient work space for its growing workforce of about 2,000 in the Dayton area, and 2,900 company wide.

The company's integrated "hotel" space on the third floor of Kettering Tower allows mobile workers and others to be part of the work environment on an as-needed basis with plug-in access to office resources when necessary, said Dan McCabe, CareSource's chief administrator.

"Thirty five percent of our employees work from home," McCabe said. "When they come to the office, they need a touch-down space."

The hotel space, which includes desks, chairs, shelves and docking stations for laptops, was nearly filled to capacity late Tuesday morning. In addition, about 180 permanent office dwellers have already been consolidated at the building, including new hires and workers transferred from the company's corporate headquarters at 230 North Main St. or its so-called Ballpark Village offices at 220 East Monument Ave.

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The Kettering Tower offices are dedicated strictly to information technology employees charged with executing CareSource's digitial strategy, which includes big data, analytics, mobile and social media projects, according to Paul Stoddard, CareSource's chief information officer.

"Health care is notoriously behind in technology adoption, and we consider ourselves breakout leaders in that area," Stoddard said.

CareSource has hired 200 IT workers alone in just the past two years in addition to hundreds of other call center, marketing and case-management workers, nearly doubling the size of its local workforce.

If the company continues to grow at the same rate, it will need even more office space in addition to the Kettering Tower facility, which was funded, in part, with money from the the JobsOhio Revitalization Program, administered by the Dayton Development Coalition.

The Kettering Tower location increases CareSource's footprint to nearly 600,000 square feet in downtown Dayton, which will support about 2,300 employees, according to company officials.

"Every time we turn around, we're filling up space rather quickly," according to McCabe, who said the company is currently exploring "other opportunities" that will boost employment in the Dayton area and other markets. The company currently has operations outside of Ohio in West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Georgia, where it sells CareSource Just4Me commercial insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act or provides Medicaid manged care services, or both.

Still, the company remains committed to calling Dayton home.

"Downtown Dayton is home to CareSource's corporate headquarters, and we remain committed to being an anchor for the city," McCabe said. "We are pleased to be an important economic driver in Dayton and appreciate the support and strong relationships we have with our city leaders."

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