TriWest Healthcare Alliance announced today it plans to establish a New Orleans operations center in Jefferson Parish later this year that will serve as a call center for veterans through a U.S. Department of Veterans program.
Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will create 285 new direct jobs with an average salary of $35,700, plus benefits, as well as 127 new indirect jobs in the New Orleans region.
Based in Phoenix, TriWest was founded in 1996 and is owned by not-for-profit health plans and two university hospital systems. The company was established to provide high-quality access to health care for military service members, veterans and their families. The company will also be hiring as many military veterans as possible for the New Orleans center, with hiring to begin in September and the call center to open in November.
The New Orleans center will administer the Veterans Choice Program, processing veterans’ care requests, coordinating with health care providers and scheduling appointments. As an agent for the program, TriWest provides services to veterans in 28 states, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
TriWest says the New Orleans center is being established due to increased demand for services from veterans in the area. Since January, the company reports having seen a 2,400% increase in care requests to nearly 50,000 per month.
The state is providing TriWest an incentive package that includes workforce development assistance through the LED FastStart program. The company is also expected to benefit from the state’s Quality Jobs Program, which provides a cash rebate of up to 6% of the company’s payroll on new jobs created over 10 years.
