Paramount Health Care buys worker compensation company

10/28/2008

Paramount Health Care has bought, for an undisclosed sum, a Columbus workers' compensation company with which it formerly contracted, giving the Maumee insurance firm a statewide presence and an increase in clients of at least 10 percent, the ProMedica Health System company announced yesterday.

A Paramount subsidiary acquired Health Management Solutions Inc., which serves more than 32,000 employers statewide - including all of Paramount's 2,600 employer customers - with workers' compensation premiums exceeding $75 million.

Paramount said it has contracted with Health Management since 1997, and its workers' compensation reach has been limited to northwest and north central Ohio.

All 70 Health Management employees in Columbus and Toledo will remain in place, including its president and chief executive, Jackie Fullerton. She is president of the combined company, which will retain the Health Management Solutions name, said Paramount spokesman Mark Moser. , Paramount's vice president of marketing.

"It was a very good fit," Ms. Fullerton said. "The timing was great."

Paramount had one employee devoted to the workers' compensation business and has added five recently, Mr. Moser said, giving the combined company a total of 76 employees.

The insurance firm, which had nearly $601 million in revenues last year, hopes to garner more business during the next workers' compensation open enrollment period in 2010, Mr. Moser said.

That could increase employment both in Columbus and Toledo, he said.