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Maria Palumbo, a corporate spokeswoman, said her company does not release specific numbers on how many it plans to hire. But David Keating, director of the Camden County Joint Development Authority, said company officials told him they plan to hire at least 100 new employees before the end of the year and will hire more than 100 additional employees before the end of 2010.
Keating said corporate officials consider the St. Marys office its "most efficient operation." He said the low cost of living in St. Marys was also a consideration when the company decided where to expand its workforce.
"They're trying to ramp up," he said. "It certainly helps our economy. It shows they will be around awhile."
Most of the open positions will pay about $10 or more an hour and are posted on the company's Web site at www.express-scripts.com. When it opened operations in St. Marys several years ago, the company also touted its excellent benefits package.
The company is hiring new employees and finalizing future hiring plans, Palumbo said Monday.
Employees undergo about five weeks of training to answer customer questions about their prescription drug benefits, as well as filling mail-order requests for medications from the company.
Trainees learn to use computers to look up benefits packages for any person whose pharmaceutical insurance plans are managed by Express Scripts. They learn to access patient information by ID number and name, determine co-payments and deductibles, and compute the actual costs customers pay in out-of-pocket expenses.
When new employees fully understand their jobs, they handle about 80 calls a day, company officials said.
When asked why the company was expanding its workforce, Palumbo said job growth at the St. Marys location is not related to acquisition activities.
"Express Scripts continues to review all our sites to ensure we have the appropriate workforce to meet the needs of our clients," she said. "It is typical for our company to hire individuals as part of our business planning for the first quarter of the year."
The company is also hiring at locations in Colorado, Minnesota, New York and St. Louis, she said.
The Fortune 500 company opened a call center in St. Marys in 2004 and has 650 employees working three shifts in a building at Kings Bay Village shopping center. When the St. Louis-based business opened five years ago, corporate officials estimated its payroll would be more than $14 million a year.
Bill Shanahan, St. Marys city manager, said the new jobs will add to the city's tax base, boost local businesses and could have a significant impact in reducing unemployment in the city.
He said the decision "speaks volumes" about the quality workforce available in the region.
"It definitely helps us," he said. "More important, look at what it will do for our citizens."
gordon.jackson@jacksonville. com, (912) 729-3672
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