As published in Toledo Business Journal - October 1, 2019
Rendering of Medical Mutual of Ohio’s new lobby at its Rossford operations
Medical Mutual of Ohio (MMO), a mutual health insurance company, is moving its northwest Ohio operations center from Toledo to Rossford in the Crossroads Centre shopping complex on Route 20, about 15 miles from its current Toledo location.
According to Mark Tooman, APR, communications manager for Medical Mutual, the company will occupy two sites totaling approximately 23,000 square feet within close proximity to each other, with one site housing sales, underwriting, and provider contracting, and the other housing customer experience and care management teams. The sites are exclusively administrative space and not available for general public use.
Bialosky Cleveland is providing all of the architecture and interior design services for the project and Welty Building Company is the general contractor.
“The spaces will be completely renovated to transition from retail space to administrative space. Renovations will focus on generating an environment that is conducive to team collaboration and workspace flexibility,” said Tooman.
According to Tooman, the workspaces will offer sit-to-stand desks, ergonomic seating, and enhanced window exposure.
“To help enhance employee well-being in the workplace, sit / stand desks are being incorporated into the facilities. They are an effective way to provide flexibility, maximize comfort, and increase productivity,” said Tooman. “Windows are also being added to the sales and administration building to provide more access to daylight and views. Both spaces will also utilize LED lighting, which has many benefits including increased lifespan and energy efficiency, as well as lower heat emission and great color rendering.”
Tooman noted that both buildings will have small huddle rooms that provide meeting space for up to four people and accommodate private, small-group meetings. The buildings will also have work cafés to provide another option for staff to meet, work, socialize, and re-energize.
“Similar to your local coffee shop, these spaces are furnished with a variety of settings to support varying modes of interaction. They will include community tables with stools, soft seating, as well as café tables and chairs. Power and device charging will be built into some of the furnishings as well,” said Tooman.
The Rossford offices will have video conferencing to enable collaboration with employees at other locations.
“Room scheduling technology will gather data to analyze the use of rooms. Infrequent room use can indicate that changes may need to be made and it allows Medical Mutual to adjust spaces to ensure all square footage is being optimized,” said Tooman.
Rendering of Medical Mutual of Ohio’s new training / conference room
The company currently has more than 350 employees based in northwest Ohio and about 2,700 statewide with additional offices in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati.
According to Tooman, as the oldest Ohio-based health insurance company, it serves its members with high-quality group and personal health insurance plans and currently provides health insurance to more than 1.5 million Ohioans. The company also offers life, disability, dental, vision, and indemnity plans, which allows it to help members organize a large portion of their insurance needs with one company.
“Customer service guides everything we do. All of our customer care representatives are based in Ohio and our priority is addressing members’ needs and concerns. We are unique in the industry in that our customer care representatives are not evaluated based on how quickly they conclude a call, but on whether they resolve a member’s inquiry,” said Bloomquist.
“We are a mutual company, meaning we do not focus on investor returns. Rather, our emphasis is on developing health plans that deliver value and help our members live healthier lives,” said Ray Mueller, executive vice president, chief financial officer. “We stay agile in a rapidly changing industry. Over the past few years, we started offering Medicare Advantage plans and Affordable Care Act plans to meet members’ needs and respond to changes in the insurance environment.”
The lease at its current Sylvania Avenue office location near Franklin Park Mall expires in March 2020, which created a need for a new location.
“This timing provided us with an opportunity to study our requirements and conduct a comprehensive search that led us to select sites in Rossford, a longtime customer of Medical Mutual,” said Frank Bloomquist, regional vice president, northwest
Medical Mutual took possession of the buildings in June and has already started remodeling. The company expects to start moving in November and conclude in January.