9 payer workforce updates

Payers are shuffling office spaces and investing in programs to train new employees. Here are nine payer workforce developments Becker's has reported since Dec. 7. 

1. Cigna was the top healthcare company, and ranked 16 overall, in Just Capital and CNBC's ranking of the "most just" 1,000 publicly traded U.S companies. 
   
   
2. Four payers — CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group, Elevance Health and Humana  — were among the top 100 companies hiring the most remote workers in 2022. 
   
   
3. Humana will lay off at least 1,162 employees in two states following the decision to close all its SeniorBridge home care facilities nationwide. The payer closed 16 facilities at the end of 2022 and said it plans to close its remaining seven locations in New York by March 5.
   
   
4. BCBS Nebraska hopes to grow a program that trains students to take on IT roles at the company. BCBS was the first private partner of Ignite Nebraska, a workforce development project led by the state. In October 2022, four students graduated from the program, and all are currently employed by BCBS. 
   
   
5. Elevance Health sold 580,000 square feet of office space in Richmond, Va. The insurer sold the 30-acre property with two buildings to Kinsale Capital Group, a specialty insurance company based in Richmond, for $76.2 million. 
   
   
6. BCBS North Dakota plans to sell a 156,000-square-foot, $19.2 million building housing subsidiary Noridian Healthcare Solutions. Between 200 and 300 employees at the Noridian Healthcare office will relocate to Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota's headquarters in Fargo. 
   
   
7. UnitedHealthcare purchased a $1.15 million building near its existing offices in Minnetonka, Minn. The one-story building located on an 8,500-square-foot property is the third the payer has purchased in Opus Business Park in Minnetonka. 
   
   
8. Aetna moved out of its 83,512-square-foot call center in Bethlehem, Pa. A spokesperson for CVS Health, Aetna's parent company, said most employees working at the call center began working remotely during the pandemic and continue to do so. 
   
   
9. BCBS Tennessee's new college degree and training program aimed at fostering IT talent for the payer, the BlueSky Institute, achieved a 100 percent retention rate in its first year. BlueSky maintained its entire inaugural class of 32 students, and applications for the next class have doubled.