Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest integrated health care system, is celebrating the grand opening of its Duluth Contact Center in Gwinnett County. Plans to open the national member service contact center, which will bring 800 new jobs to metro Atlanta by 2020, were announced last year at the State Capitol by Governor Nathan Deal and Kaiser Permanente leaders. To date, nearly 300 new employees have been hired.
“Kaiser Permanente strives to deliver the highest level of care and customer service, and this contact center supports our efforts to make it easy for members across the country to connect with us,” said Jim Simpson, interim president of Kaiser Permanente of Georgia. “As a provider of health care and coverage to metro Atlantans for more than 30 years, Kaiser Permanente is invested in this region and its economic vitality. We are proud to be able to create employment opportunities for so many talented customer service professionals.”
Kaiser Permanente also operates national contact centers in California, Colorado and Maryland. Metro Atlanta’s market for call center workers—the seventh largest in the country—was a key reason Kaiser Permanente chose to locate a fourth national contact center in Gwinnett County. The facility serves Kaiser Permanente’s more than 10.6 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia, including approximately 300,000 in Georgia.
“We are excited about Kaiser Permanente’s latest investment in Gwinnett and how that decision reflects on our community’s strengths,” said Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash. “Companies like Kaiser Permanente are able to grow and expand their business with confidence knowing they have access to a skilled workforce, solid infrastructure, and quality of life amenities like those offered here in Gwinnett County.”
Across the country, Kaiser Permanente’s contact centers handle more than 15 million calls and one million emails a year related to insurance coverage and billing. In addition to recruiting more than 800 new employees for the Duluth Contact Center, Kaiser Permanente relocated its Georgia-based member service representatives, appointment schedulers and advice nurses to the location. The site has the capacity to house up to 1,000 workers.
Kaiser Permanente invested $51 million to purchase and renovate the 185,000-square-foot office complex in Duluth to meet requirements for LEED certification as a “green” building. The facility is also designed to be a total health environment that inspires, influences and communicates good health. It features bright, open and collaborative spaces; ergonomic workstations; and stairways that promote walking and active living.
Last year, Kaiser Permanente opened a new IT facility in Midtown Atlanta, which is expected to create 900 new jobs, bringing Kaiser Permanente’s presence in Georgia to more than 5,000 employees and physicians by 2020. The health care organization also operates 26 medical centers across metro Atlanta and in Athens. For more information about employment opportunities with Kaiser Permanente, visit the careers page at kp.org.
