Conn. firm receives incentives to add hundreds of workers

WellSpark Health, an affiliate of ConnectiCare, will add nearly 290 jobs with state assistance, as it helps other businesses save more than $1,600 annually in health costs for each person they employ — by helping them stay on track with regimens for chronic conditions like diabetes.

WellSpark currently has 70 employees in Farmington, with the EmblemHealth subsidiary managing the Health Enhancement Program offered to state employees that keeps track of doctor’s checkups, dentist visits

and eye exams among other tasks.

EmblemHealth also owns ConnectiCare, which offers health plans in Connecticut and has its headquarters in the same Scott Swamp Road office park where WellSpark is expanding.

Under an “earn as you grow” program managed by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, WellSpark will receive $1.5 million in state incentives if it maintains the full allotment of jobs for at least two years. That amounts to more than $5,000 for each job, with the company paying between $65,000 and $110,000 annually on average, according to Roberta Wachtelhausen, WellSpark president.

“It’s great to be working for a company that’s growing fast and successfully — but it’s also great to be working for a company that’s doing something really important,” Gov. Ned Lamont told WellSpark employees on Thursday morning in Farmington. “Things that are preventable are the key dynamics when it comes to things related to COVID. As we were trying to think about how to prioritize people for vaccines, we realized that half the population of the state of Connecticut had some type of a co-morbidity ... smoking and obesity being near the top of that list.”

When he campaigned for office in 2018, Lamont said he would not prioritize economic development efforts pegged to big incentive programs, like the First Five program created by his predecessor Dan Malloy. Connecticut scored some successes under the program — including Charter Communications, which moved its headquarters to Stamford, where it is now constructing a downtown complex.

But the state has seen some incentives fizzle out as well. Next month, Disney is shutting down its Blue Sky Studios animation house in Greenwich, with former owner 21st Century Fox having racked up massive incentives from Connecticut since moving the studio in 2009 from White Plains, N.Y.

Bert Wachtelhausen said WellSpark is on a steady, upward trajectory that will support the jobs over the long haul.

“Health coaches, nurse educators, data analysts — a lot of our programming starts with insights into a health profile of a group,” Wachtelhausen said Thursday in Farmington. “We are looking for ... [people] who are really focused on that mind-body connection.”