Founder of major NEPA employer TMG Health to retire

Oct. 09--Jack Tighe never thought about how much TMG Health had grown until one day about seven years ago when he had trouble finding a parking space.

The medical billing and management company he founded started out small in 1998 at office space on James Avenue in Scranton.

As the 60-year-old Dunmore native announced on Thursday he will retire from the business early next year, the company employs more than 1,800 people in Jessup, where TMG consolidated its local sites at a 150,000-square-foot building at Valley View Industrial Park in 2012.

"TMG Health is inarguably the greatest success story we've seen from an entrepreneurial perspective over the last decade," said Robert Durkin, president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce.

Before Mr. Tighe started TMG Health, the 1978 University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy graduate was deputy chief of staff for Gov. Robert P. Casey and one of the main architects of the state's Children's Health Insurance Program, said Jim Brown, who was the late governor's chief of staff.

CHIP was designed to provide insurance coverage to children whose families earn too much to qualify for medical assistance but not enough to afford private insurance. It came to serve as a model for the federal version that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1997.

Nearly 150,000 people are currently enrolled in CHIP, according to the state's most recent figures.

After Mr. Tighe left the governor's office, he became senior vice president of government programs for Independence Blue Cross but couldn't stop thinking about an idea for his own business.

"My wife told me she was sick of hearing about my good idea," Mr. Tighe said. "She said, 'Why don't you do something about it?'?"

So he did -- leaving his health care executive job to pursue his dream.

"Not everyone would leave a job like that to roll the dice on their own company," said Mr. Brown, who invested in Mr. Tighe's business through venture capital firm SCP Partners and became chairman of the board of directors -- before he left to work for Mr. Casey's son, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

Mr. Brown described Mr. Tighe as a visionary who saw where the health care industry was going and knew how to find a niche in the market: by taking on business functions insurance companies wanted to outsource while the insurers focused on medical management.

Now, TMG Health describes itself as the leading national provider of expert solutions for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and managed-care Medicaid plans. The company performs functions like billing, adjudicating claim disputes, claims processing and customer service.

The company projects it will bring in $230 million in revenue in 2016, continue to grow its staff and provide services to 4.3 million client members.

The business has three other locations: a corporate headquarters in King of Prussia, a technology center in Wexford and a call center in Amarillo, Texas.

Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp. bought TMG in 2008 but kept Mr. Tighe as the chief executive officer. Mr. Tighe credited the company's investment with helping it continue to grow and said TMG's success never would have been possible without support ranging from the chamber to local politicians.

TMG's board of directors named Susan Rawlings Molina interim president effective Monday as part of the company's leadership transition plan. Ms. Molina has held senior leadership roles with Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Triple-S Management Corp. and, most recently, Florida Healthcare Plus.

Even without him, Mr. Tighe foresaw TMG remaining a key employer in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Mr. Tighe has been involved with charitable organizations like the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties and the Scranton Area Community Foundation. He expected to pursue other business and philanthropic interests after leaving TMG but declined to discuss specifics on Thursday.

"I'm not going to be sitting around and playing golf," he said.

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