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Health-Care Company to Build $35 Million Facility

Posted on: Friday, 8 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 8--A California health-care company on Thursday officially announced that it has selected Overland Park for a new mail-order distribution center for prescription drugs that will employ as many as 850 people.

Prescription Solutions of Costa Mesa, Calif., announced plans to build a 175,000-square-foot facility at the Overland Park International Trade Center near 115th Street and Metcalf Avenue.

The company plans to invest as much as $35 million in the facility, which will be able to fill 50,000 prescriptions in an eight-hour shift. The company plans to begin construction immediately, with a goal of starting operations by mid-2006.

Prescription Solutions is a subsidiary of PacifiCare Health Systems, which UnitedHealth Group on Wednesday announced it will acquire for $8.1 billion in cash and stock. The deal represents one of the managed care industry's largest combinations.

Company officials said the pending acquisition won't affect the project.

The company will be the fourth-largest private-sector employer in Overland Park, behind Sprint Corp., Black & Veatch and Yellow Roadway Corp.

"We selected Overland Park to expand our operations because the community and surrounding region have many of the necessary attributes we value, including a friendly business climate, an educated and ample work force, and a convenient and suitable building location," said Jacqueline Kosecoff, PacifiCare's executive vice president/specialty companies.

Kosecoff said the company was expanding to meet the consumer demand that is anticipated to come with changes in the Medicare prescription drug program next year.

Bob Marcusse, president and chief executive of the Kansas City Area Development Council, called the company's decision to locate in Overland Park a "triumph for regionalism."

"PacifiCare came to Overland Park because it was the best place to be for their company." Marcusse said. "However, they would not have been exposed to Overland Park had the company consultants not been part of a broader regional effort initiated by the Kansas City Area Development Council to bring the site selection consultants into the Kansas City marketplace."

The company has been enjoying growth in demand for mail-order prescriptions in recent years. Nationwide, mail-order prescription sales have grown to about $33.9 billion last year from about $20.3 billion in 2001, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting company.

As employers work to contain health-care costs, they are more frequently requiring employees to buy mail-order prescription drugs for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, asthma and high cholesterol.

It's estimated that mail-order prescriptions are about 11 percent cheaper than buying drugs from a brick-and-mortar pharmacy because there's less overhead, according to the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

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PHS, UNH,

Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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