MVP grows, focuses on community

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Feb 02, 2007 by Palmateer, Paige

SYRACUSE - In 1980, a group of physicians in the Schenectady area created the Schenectady County Foundation for Medical Care. The goal was to establish a health-maintenance organization (HMO) that would offer quality health care through private physicians.

Three years later, the Mohawk Valley Physicians' Health Plan Inc. (MVP) began operating in Schenectady and soon spread across the state in the 1980s. and 1990s, expanding into Vermont in 1995. MVP Health Care is a full-service insurance company that offers a broad range of products from different carriers. Employer health-benefits plans include HMOs, point-of-service (POS), preferred-provider organization (PPO), exclusive-provider organization (EPO), HRAs, COBRA, flex plans, high-deductible plans, and fully insured and self-insured plans.

"Our focus is group insurance, and we target companies with two employees to companies with 2 million employees," says Rupert C. Brady, Jr., regional vice president of MVP Health Care in the Syracuse region. "We do sell individual insurance, however."

MVP Health Care's Syracuse office is located in Suite 200 at 620 Erie Boulevard East. Brady has spent seven years at the Syracuse office, after leaving the sales and marketing staff of a Binghamton-based newspaper.

"I have a lot of family on the health-care provider side," Brady says. "I was interested in the field, and this is an industry that is not going away."

The Schenectady-headquartered MVP Health Care is a not-for-profit organization with a 14-member board of directors led by CEO and President David W. Oliker. The company employs 1,600 in five regional offices located in the Hudson Valley, Utica, Syracuse, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

In January 2006, MVP Health Care merged with Rochester-based Preferred Care. While Preferred Care operates under the MVP Health Care umbrella, it remains a separate company, explains Brady. A Nov. 15, 2006, MVP press release stated that the companies' combined enrollment is 700,000 covered medical lives.

MVP Health Care generated annual revenue of $935 million in 2004 and $976 million in 2005. Revenue increased to about $1.2 billion in 2006 due to the Preferred Care merger. MVP will announce its projected 2007 revenue in March.

Brady says that MVP Health Care's current push is towards wellness programs that focus on health screenings and disease-management programs.

"We are giving employers the tools to get employees to participate," Brady says. "We work consultatively with companies to help them implement health-benefits plans and tailor the programs to each specific company."

Tools designed to get employees to participate include paycheck stuffers and a Web site created with employees in mind.

MVP Health Care competes locally with Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and United Healthcare.

MVP Health Care differentiates itself by offering the product line of a large insurer combined with the personal service of a smaller company, Brady says.

Community involvement

According to Brady, who sits on the boards of the. Red Cross and American Heart Association, MVP Health Care supports numerous community events.

"We don't want people to just think we are here to sell insurance," Brady says, "We are part of the community too."

In 2006, MVP Health Care sponsored the "Controlling Corporate Healthcare Costs" conference, Syracuse University's "Mayfest," the American Red Cross Real Heroes Breakfast, Paige's Butterfly Run, and a series of educational videos for Ophelia's Place, a local treatment center for eating disorders.

The company has also made a commitment to support women entrepreneurs by sponsoring Women in Business and Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE). Brady says MVP Health Care is looking into designing a product for women-owned businesses.

As for 2007, MVP Health Care plans to increase its presence in the New York State market through community initiatives and partnerships. The company also hopes to offer combined MVP-Preferred Care products, says Brady.

BOTW PROFILE

Rupert C. Brady, Jr., Regional Vice President

MVP Health Care

* Age: 38

* Education: B.S. in marketing, Binghamton University

* Residence: Syracuse

* Family: Wife; Cariann; sons, Elijah and Philip

* Hobbles: Golf and spending time with family

* Favorite book: "Good to Great" by Jim Collins

BOTW FACTS

MVP Health Care

Syracuse Regional Office

West Suite 200

620 Erie Blvd. E.

Syracuse, N.Y. 13204

Phone: (315) 234-6166

Fax: (315) 426-3730

www.mvphealthcare.com

* Type of business: Health-care insurance

* Products or services offered: HMO, POS, PPO, EPO, HRA, COBRA, indemnity coverage, flex plans, etc.

* Year founded: 1980

* Employees: 1,600

* Covered medical lives: 700,000

* Corporate headquarters square footage: 150,000

* Key company officials: David W. Oliker, president and CEO; Thomas Combs, CFO; David Field, COO; Rupert Brady, regional vice president, Syracuse region

* Annual revenue: $1.2 billion