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Tag: Harrisburg

Following historic peaks in telehealth usage last year, patients are expected to continue to use virtual care

If you were to ask any health system executive what the future of health care was in 2019, they would have said telemedicine. And in March of last year, with patients unable to access their physicians because of the quarantine, that shift to telemedicine happened in weeks, not years.

Telemedicine services through health care providers saw an immense peak in use resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and, while many patients are returning to their physicians, area payers and providers have seen permanent changes in how patients expect care.

“When the pandemic hit, all health care providers were providing telehealth to some degree, but it was a small percentage,” said Jan Bergen, president and CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health during the Lancaster Chamber’s virtual State of the County event last month. “It gave us the ability to triage what patients needed to be treated virtually and who needed to be seen personally.”

Because of the pandemic, 2020’s telemedicine usage dwarfed 2019’s across hospital systems.

Last year, UPMC’s ambulatory telemedicine visits grew from about 250 a day in February 2020 to 15,000  by mid-April, said Dr. John Goldman, vice president of medical affairs at UPMC Pinnacle and infectious disease specialist.

“It’s since come down from that peak as more patients began to return to in-person clinical visits in our clean, safe hospitals, but today we still average about 6,500 telemedicine visits each day,” said Goldman.

Goldman added that improved telehealth services also means that patients have easier access to leading experts outside of the region, even if they are in an inpatient facility.

York-based WellSpan Health, which had already invested in telehealth products such as virtual urgent, primary and specialty care, and its MadelineRx online birth control solution, did more than 545,000 telehealth visits in 2020 as it expanded its services.

Dr. Roxanna Gapstur, president and CEO of WellSpan Health, said the patients ranged from newborns to the elderly, with 20% scheduled by patients over 60.

Penn State Health had also introduced telemedicine services prior to the pandemic but had focused on ALS care and urgent care through Penn State Health On Demand. In 2020, the Hershey-based health system saw its telehealth usage expand by 2,200%.

“We onboarded across our health system over 4,600 providers and staff,” said Chris LaCoe, vice president of virtual health at Penn State Health. “We enrolled around 60,000 patients and we really saw a massive uptick in our scheduled visits, our urgent care visits as well as some of the COVID screenings and testing that we had out there in the consumer space.”

Hospital systems in the region were already using video conferencing software between doctors and patients, and many health insurers already offered telehealth benefits prior to the pandemic. But reimbursements from third party payers, particularly Medicare and Medicaid, were much less than they would be in an in-person doctor’s visit if they were reimbursed at all.

HIPPA change

The changes started when the Centers for Medicare & Medical Services, a federal agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid programs across the country, introduced leniencies on HIPPA requirements on video software and broadened access to Medicare telehealth services. Third party payers followed suit by expanding their telehealth service coverage, offering advanced payments to independent health care providers and waiving fees for members using virtual care.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health saw its members use telehealth services 3,400% more than they did in 2019 with over 3.4 million telehealth services being accessed.

Both Highmark and Harrisburg-based Capital BlueCross waived deductibles, coinsurance and copayments, also known as cost shares, for outpatient virtual visits last year and into 2021

“Early on, we realized the financial toll the pandemic was taking on those we serve, so we acted quickly to waive member cost shares,” said Jerry Reimenschneider, senior public relations specialist at Capital BlueCross. “We also recognized the economic strain the pandemic was placing on providers, and acted to ease that strain. During the public health emergency, we’re paying providers the same rate for telehealth visits that we would for in-person visits.”

At Capital BlueCross, virtual visits through network providers grew from 22% of the insurer’s telehealth claims in 2019 to 81% last year. Capital BlueCross saw its largest surge between March and May, but the increase was largely sustained throughout 2020, Reimenschneider said.

Here to stay

The region’s health care experts expect the changes in telehealth to stay to some degree. Dr. David Webster, executive medical director at Highmark, said that telehealth as an option to access care is here to stay.

“Behavioral health will likely be continued to be delivered via telehealth as there is rarely a need for a physical exam among other advantages of telehealth,” Webster said. “There will likely be some chronic disease management and urgent care among other services that will continue to be delivered through telehealth based on patient preference and if their clinicians continue to offer telehealth services.”

The problems of such a quick switch to telehealth were evident early on in the process according to LaCoe, who said that Penn State Health did not have the robust infrastructure that it does now and between that and the stress quarantining had on internet service, the first month of telehealth services was not devoid of issues.

While there will still be work needed to better integrate telehealth among providers and patients, LaCoe said that he doesn’t see telehealth services dialing back after the pandemic.

“If traditional health systems aren’t able to provide this service, there will be other groups out there that are willing to,” he said.

Comcast unveils plan to invest $1 billion to help connect low-income households

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Internet Essentials program, which provides low-cost broadband internet access to low-income households, Comcast has announced plans to spend $1 billion over the next 10 years to further narrow the digital divide.

Robert Grove, vice president of communications for the Comcast Keystone Region, said the company, which has already helped 10 million households with the program since 2011, will seek to assist 50 million low-income individuals with low-cost internet and other services to help them stay connected.

“It’s so important. Today you can’t really apply for a job without the internet,” Grove said.

In addition to providing the internet service at $9.95 per month for 50 Mbps of Internet speed to anyone in a federally approved assistance program that lives within Comcast’s footprint, the company is also donating laptops to low-income individuals through a number of community service partners and is expanding its Lift Zone program.

Lift Zones are community centers in low-income areas, which have dedicated internet access for children.

“With this, kids can access the internet if they can’t school at home for whatever reason,” Grove said.

With many students still learning remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said it expects students will be able to complete more than 25 million hours of remote learning at Lift Zone locations that have already opened, or will be opening soon.

There are a number of lift zones in Comcast’s Keystone region, including one in Harrisburg and seven in the Greater Reading area.

Grove said Comcast aims to connect more than 1,000 community centers with free Wi-Fi by the end of 2021.

He said the work the company has done over the last 10 years has already been impactful in Pennsylvania.

Since 2011 it has enrolled 290,000 households in Pennsylvania in the Internet Essentials Program, often working with community groups to help pay the $9.95 monthly cost for those most in need.

In fact, Pennsylvania has had the fourth-highest participation in the nation.

In Dauphin County, Grove said the company has around 11,000 households enrolled in the program with 8,600 of them in Harrisburg.

There are around 12,000 households in Berks County in the program, with 9,800 of them in the city of Reading.

“Together, we have been able to connect millions of people to the power of the Internet at home, and to the endless opportunity, education, growth, and discovery it provides. Today, we are rededicating ourselves to this mission to ensure that the next generation of students in America has the tools, resources, and abilities they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world,” said Dave Watson, CEO of Comcast Cable in a statement.

COVID-19 has made the impact of internet access much more vital for many households and that has impacted Comcast’s Internet Essentials program.

The company has offered 60 days of free Internet service to any new Internet Essentials customer who needed to get online during the coronavirus outbreak.

With so many new internet users coming onboard, Grove noted that educating people about how to use the internet is also key to the effort.

To assist with that effort the company has built up an online learning center that includes more than 200 digital literacy training videos, guides and reports that are free to anyone to use, including non-customers.

It has also developed an employee network of 3,000 Internet Essentials Ambassadors who volunteer their time to help spread the word about the program in their communities.

Quandel Construction names new president

Mike Karcutskie. PHOTO PROVIDED.

Harrisburg-based Quandel Construction Group, Inc. recently named Michael Karcutskie as its newest president.

Karcutskie, an employee at the firm for over 22 years, will oversee the firm’s operations and develop its corporate strategy, the construction management and general contracting firm said in an announcement on Monday.

Prior to taking the new position, Karcutskie held a number of positions at the firm including vice president, senior project manager, director of business development and more.

“In his years with our firm, Michael continues to provide invaluable technical knowledge in construction, estimating, and scheduling; exhibit clear and effective communication, and demonstrate outstanding leadership,” said Gregory Quandel, president and chief executive officer of Quandel Enterprises. “As president of Quandel Construction Group, Michael will bring this same dedication and drive to our entire firm’s operations, ensuring that we continue to be attentive and responsive to our clients while reinforcing Quandel’s position as a leader in construction innovative solutions.”

Karcutskie graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in civil/construction engineering technology.

Quandel Construction has offices in Harrisburg, Scranton and Minersville and builds for clients in health care, higher education, manufacturing, retail, senior living, government and more.

AllBetterCare Urgent Care changes name to UPMC Urgent Care

Three urgent care clinics owned by UPMC Pinnacle have changed their names to fit under the Harrisburg-based health system’s UPMC Urgent Care brand.

UPMC Pinnacle’s AllBetterCare Urgent Care centers in Carlisle, Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg, changed their names to UPMC Urgent Care, joining 13 other centers across the midstate.

AllBetterCare affiliated with PinnacleHealth shortly before the system was purchased by UPMC in early fall 2017.

“Convenient and accessible urgent care services reduce unnecessary emergency department visits, while providing personal, efficient and superior walk-in care,” said Dr. Peter Kang, emergency medicine specialist at UPMC Urgent Care. “Since joining UPMC in 2017, we have been providing our patients more coordinated care with increased access to specialists throughout the UPMC network.”

UPMC Urgent care employs over 70 emergency and family practice physicians, advanced practice providers and support staff.

In addition to joining under the UPMC Urgent Care brand, the three centers will also move into UPMC Pinnacle’s electronic health record platform, Epic.

Capital BlueCross releases free mental wellness toolkit

 

Employers with health care coverage through Capital BlueCross now have access to a suite of mental health resources through the Harrisburg-based insurer’s new mental wellness toolkit.

Capital BlueCross announced on Wednesday that it is offering a free toolkit to help employers address mental wellness issues in the workplace.

The toolkit is downloadable through Capital BlueCross’ website and offers 50 customizable communications that can be used to engage employees both online and in-person. Employers with Capital BlueCross coverage will have access to the entire toolkit while those without access will see a portion of it.

Todd Shamash, president and CEO of Capital BlueCross, said that there continues to be a reluctance for individuals to seek help for mental health issues.

“The stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic only underscore the need to proactively help address mental wellness issues that impact so many of our friends, family, coworkers and members of our communities,” he said.

Through the communications in the toolkit, Capital BlueCross expects businesses to be able to promote a constructive dialogue about mental wellness issues, educate employees on available services and erode the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

Shamash said that he toolkit is part of a strategic decision by the company to help employers tackle mental wellness issues among employees before it impacts the workplace.

“Struggles with stress, anxiety or depression can sometimes be reflected in employee morale, absenteeism or productivity,” Shamash said. “If we can create a productive, ongoing discussion in the workplace around mental wellness, maybe we can help people recognize problems and seek help faster.”

CRH to relocate Harrisburg facility to Susquehanna Township

Two buildings in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County were purchased by the holding company of CRH Catering. PHOTO PROVIDED

Fayette County-based full-line industrial catering and food service company CRH Catering is relocating its Harrisburg branch to two recently purchased buildings in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County.

Mechanicsburg-based Lee & Associates of Eastern Pennsylvania announced on Tuesday that it recently brokered the sale of two buildings to Cordaro Realty Holdings LLC for an undisclosed price. The buying entity of the property is CRH’s holding company.

The property is located at 3303-3307 N. Sixth St. and is made up of one 51,200-square-foot building and another 10,870-square-foot building. One of the buildings is equipped with five truck height doors and both feature close proximity to Interstate 81 and PA routes 22 and 322.

According to Lee & Associates, CRH plans to relocate its Harrisburg location at 1235 S. Harrisburg St., to the new property.

CRH Catering distributes its products across the Mid-Atlantic region with facilities in Harrisburg, Altoona and Allentown, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown and Glen Bernie, Maryland; and Yorktown and Ashland, Virginia.

Bradley Swidler, a principal at Lee & Associates, said that the buildings were excellently maintained and will require minimum retrofitting to fit CRH’s needs. He added that staying in the midstate was a critical aspect of the real estate search for CRH, seeing as though it wanted to stay close by to its Central Pennsylvania customers.

“This represented an excellent investment opportunity for CRH Catering that will enable the company to build equity in its owned real estate,” explained Bradley Swidler, a principal at Lee & Associates of Eastern Pennsylvania. “CRH Catering has an excellent grasp of its long-term expansion requirements, and these assets provide the required space for its operations and logistics both now and in the future.”

CRH was not immediately available to comment on the company’s move out of Harrisburg.

Melissa Miller: ‘generalist and specialist’

Melissa Miller, marketing manager and assistant vice president at F&M Trust, joined the Chambersburg-based bank’s marketing department shortly after graduating college.

Miller has since grown her craft alongside her employer for over a decade and attributes her success to the many facets of the company she has seen as a marketer for a bank.

Melissa Miller, marketing manager and assistant vice president at F&M Trust has been with the company for over 14 years. PHOTO PROVIDED.

Miller spoke to the Central Penn Business Journal about F&M Trust’s regional headquarters in Harrisburg that opened this month, what has kept her at the company and how she continues to learn in her role.

CPBJ: How has working at F&M Trust for the majority of your career affected how you grew as a marketing professional?

Miller: The longevity of my career in the same industry and with the same organization has allowed me to continually perfect the art and learn the science of marketing financial services. With experience came a deeper understanding of the industry and valuable legacy knowledge of the organization.

Paired with an intimate knowledge of the products and services offered by the bank, the sales process for each, and the bank’s competitive advantages, it has given me the ability to progress and be more effective in marketing financial services.

In addition, marketers, especially bank marketers, wear a lot of different hats requiring a higher variety of tasks performed under the marketing function.

That requirement has forced me to gain a more diverse skill set in the field to be effective in my position, placing me in a favorable place on the spectrum between generalist and specialist.

It has allowed me to see a bigger picture, understand how to integrate marketing strategy and become a more well-rounded and effective marketing professional.

CPBJ: What marketing initiatives would you say you have been particularly proud of and why?

Miller: There is so much to be proud of, and all that there is to be proud of is a result of a high level of collaboration within the organization and some excellent outside partners whom we consider extensions of our department.

I am particularly proud of campaigns and activities that are different. Ones that are a little unexpected, show our evolution as an organization and have a heightened level of creativity.

CPBJ: What has it been like for you to move from marketing officer to assistant vice

president, marketing manager over the last four years?

Miller: It’s interesting because the title change followed behind a gradual and continual growth in core responsibilities. At first it was a title change that better aligned with my role in the organization. Looking back through the time since that promotion, I believe it is more accurately described as a pivotal point in my career. Intentional or not, I experienced increased expectations from colleagues and leadership and in turn, felt myself grow and rise to those expectations.

CPBJ: How has your leadership style changed in that time?

Miller: Accordingly, that time most certainly had a direct impact on my leadership style. I believe that I have always exhibited a high level of supportive behavior and execution. While that has not changed, I believe it has been complimented by a growth in directive behavior to include a more motivational, strategic and visionary style.

CPBJ: How were you involved with the recent opening of F&M Trust’s regional headquarters in Harrisburg? What kind of a push did that take from the marketing department?

Miller: The addition of a regional headquarters, a physical location in the Capital Region, has been part of the bank’s strategy for several years. The bank’s marketing department has certainly played a large role to support that strategy. The Capital Region is a market the bank was already doing business in and therefore has been building presence in through marketing and advertising strategy.

The marketing department and our sales team have worked to put F&M Trust on the proverbial map long before being on the literal map. In addition to advertising and sales efforts in the Capital Region, marketing has also helped to facilitate relationships with community partners and support for non-profit organizations in the area.

An important component in the value of community banking and one that the bank takes very seriously.

CPBJ: What has made it possible for you to stay at F&M Trust as long as you have when it’s so common to change jobs early in one’s career?

Miller: A little initiative and a lot of opportunity. The answer has much less to do with me and everything to do with the organization. Working for an organization that is growing and evolving has provided a continual opportunity for growth. An organization that is always in motion has set the stage for a career also always in motion.

I have never found myself against a ceiling to break through but rather, in an environment where personal and professional development is supported and training opportunities both internal and external, formal and informal are plentiful. These factors contribute to a high level of job satisfaction and have fostered a continuous progression in my career. I didn’t need to change employers to experience any of those things, so I didn’t.

I am fortunate to have found myself with F&M Trust early in my career.

Shaffer & Engle managing partner announces candidacy for Dauphin County Judge

Jeffrey Engle. PHOTO PROVIDED.

Jeffrey Engle, managing partner for Harrisburg-based law firm, Shaffer & Engle, announced his candidacy for judge on the Dauphin County Court on Saturday.

The seat is currently open following the retirement of Judge Jeanine Turgeon.

Engle, a municipal lawyer for large school districts, local governments and Dauphin County for over 20 years, founded his private practice with partner Allen Shaffer in 1999 in Millersburg. The duo relocated their central location to Harrisburg in 2012.

The Republican attorney will run on both the Republican and Democratic tickets in the seat’s primary and again in the fall of 2021.

Engle has support in the Dauphin County Republican Committee, where he was endorsed by an 80% vote.

In the press release announcing his candidacy, the area attorney said that he would “bring a well-balanced background to the Bench as a former prosecutor, defense attorney and civil attorney.”

Engle joins the race alongside defense attorney Bryan McQuilan of Kelly, Parker & Cohen in Lower Paxton Township. McQuilan will also appear on both ballots.

Dave Schankweiler makes it official, he will challenge Papenfuse to become Harrisburg mayor

Dave Schankweiler
Dave Schankweiler

After surveying Harrisburg residents and businesses for more than a month, entrepreneur Dave Schankweiler, announced his candidacy to be the capital city’s next mayor.

He will challenge incumbent Mayor Eric Papenfuse in the May primary. Papenfuse, who previously told PennLive he planned to seek a third term, was not immediately available to comment on Schankweiler’s candidacy.

Schankweiler, founder and former publisher of the Central Penn Business Journal, announced his decision today in a video message filmed at Harrisburg University. Schankweiler spoke of the realities of being a resident in a city that doesn’t work for everyone.

“In the 24 neighborhoods that make up this capital city, you can almost see the invisible lines that divide the healthy from the sick parts—the safe from the unsafe,” he said. “It’s been like this for years, hasn’t it? And it’s not getting better. It’s an unspoken realty that entire blocks are written off as unsavory or unworthy of investment.”

Schankweiler announced in early December that he was sending surveys to residents, students and businesses and going door-to-door to hear from the community before deciding to run.

In an interview with the journal, he said that during his community outreach there were four problems residents pointed to time and time again: Harrisburg’s rising crime rates, the city’s schools not working for everyone, roads in need of repair and a local government system that does not respond to residents’ problems fast enough.

“The city has had eight years to get those basics taken care of and the residents have had enough,” said Schankweiler. “People are outraged that the mayor doesn’t pay attention to their neighborhoods. They say, downtown is important because that’s where the business district is but why don’t we see him, why don’t we see him in our neighborhood taking care of these issues?”

On his first day as mayor, Schankweiler said he would organize a Citywide Action Summit on Violence Prevention. The summit, which would include Harrisburg City Council, public safety officials and business, school, church, non-profit and neighborhood leaders, would develop an action plan to ultimately end violence in the city.

In his first year as mayor he pledged to create a responsive, reliable administration; make streets safer; support student focused, performing schools; deliver housing that’s stable, affordable and safe; a post-COVID business plan; and create a blueprint for thriving neighborhoods.

As mayor, Schankweiler would establish a number of advisory bodies including: a Unified Neighborhood Council to coordinate the recommendations of the summit on violence prevention; a Mayor’s Commission on Housing and Home Ownership to create a plan to provide affordable housing; and an Office of Minority Entrepreneurship and Small Business Growth to attract businesses to the city.

“You have to start by listening; it’s business 101,” said Schankweiler. “You collect those thoughts and ideas and the mayor has got to identify, along with representation from the city, city council and the nonprofit, educational and business community, what do we want to see the city be in five to ten years?”

The former Republican turned Democrat founded Journal Multimedia, the parent company of media outlets the Central Penn Business Journal, NJ BIZ and Lehigh Valley Business journal, in 1984 and sold the company in 2016.

He has since held roles as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority overseeing the finances of the City of Harrisburg, member of the board of directors for the United Way of the Capital Region as well as many more board positions at nonprofits including the Allied Arts Fund, The Foundation for Enhancing Communities and more.

Schankweiler is also a founder, founding board of trustees chairman and director emeritus of the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

Financially, Schankweiler said that the city needs to modernize its revenues, looking at successful models of other cities and towns to develop no-tax revenue generation.

“I’m not in this to raise taxes. We can’t do that to our citizens,” he said.

During his tenure at the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, the local entrepreneur said that he was able to see the inner workings of the city, which he says operates on 40-year-old systems.

“If you look at the city’s audit for the last 15 years, the auditors give you our weaknesses- the same 20 things have been in that audit for a good number of years,” he said. “Why aren’t we listening to those auditors and righting those wrongs?”

For his plan to work, Schankweiler emphasized that the city’s safety must be taken care of first, noting that if the city is safe, attractive and easy to do business in, it will attract more enterprise throughout the city’s neighborhoods.

Harrisburg-based firm invests $1.5 million into Pennsylvania health care technologies

 

Harrisburg-based venture capital investment firm The Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania (LSGPA) invested $1.5 million last year into three Pennsylvania health care companies.

LSGPA was founded in 2002 and provides early state investment and business development services to businesses that it sees having a significant impact on the future of health care.

“LSGPA is proud of its reputation for identifying and investing in young companies with the potential to both advance human health and positively impact the commonwealth’s economy,” said Dr. Mel Billingsley, the firm’s president and CEO. “Among the lessons to be learned from the pandemic is the importance of ongoing investment in healthcare innovation.”

Last year, LSGPA invested $1 million in MacuLogix Inc. a medical device company based in Harrisburg. MacuLogix is working to eliminate blindness caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) through the education of eye care professionals as well as through AdaptDxPro, the firm’s eye tracking headset.

The funding helped support the launch of AdaptDxPro, according to LSGPA.

LSGPA also invested $500,000 in Micro Interventional Devices Inc., a Newtown, Bucks County-based medical technology developer boasting technology allowing surgeons and interventionalists to perform minimally invasive structural heart procedures.

Finally, LSGPA invested $50,000 into Philadelphia-based Respana Therapeutics, a company developing therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of complications from respiratory illnesses like influenza and COVID-19.

McNees launches new municipal consulting subsidiary

Harrisburg-based law firm McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC launched a new subsidiary this week to provide consulting services for municipalities throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

Keystone Municipal Solutions, also headquartered in Harrisburg, offers interim management and professional consulting services to municipalities, particularly those experiencing leadership transitions or other management challenges, McNees wrote in a press release on Monday.

“When a borough or township manager leaves their position, the daily operations of that municipality can sometimes grind to a halt until the vacancy is filled,” said Adam Santucci, principal of Keystone Municipal Solutions and McNees member attorney. “We recognize the unique challenges that can present to communities. Keystone Municipal Solutions offers those municipalities access to experienced professionals who can keep operations running smoothly until they’ve filled the position.”

McNees is a full-service law firm with over 130 attorneys operating from offices in Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, State College and Scranton, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Frederick, Maryland; and Washington, D.C.

Brian Jackson, McNees’ chair, said that the idea for the company grew out of the firm’s existing relationships with municipalities.

“Our local government clients would frequently seek advice and counsel from us when they were left without full-time management, and we knew we could develop a solution that would meet their needs,” Jackson said.

Higher Information Group acquires New York technology company

 

Higher Information Group (HIG) announced on Thursday that it has completed the acquisition of Elmira, New York-based Office Equipment Source (OES)

HIG, based in Harrisburg, offers a number of information management services including office equipment sales, document storage, marketing and design and IT.

The company purchased OES, a family-owned technology company specialized in office equipment, print management solutions, facility management and managed network solutions, for an undisclosed amount of money.

“OES is an exceptional company offering a range of document technology solutions with an outstanding reputation for service and commitment to the community,” said John Frisch, owner and president of HIG. “The partnership will supercharge our capacity to serve customers and accelerate our mission of helping businesses transform their day-to-day operations so they can focus on what matters most.”

As part of the deal, HIG said that it expects to retain all existing OEW sales, services and support staff. The company’s principals Mike Mitchell and Drew Mitchell, will continue with the company in executive roles.

“OES and the Mitchells are extremely proud to begin this new journey with HIG,” said Drew Mitchell, the company’s vice president of operations. “We believe this opportunity will empower our customers and our employees to deliver the most extensive and up-to-date service portfolio in the industry.”

The acquisition extends HIG’s presence across the southern border of central Pennsylvania and east to Philadelphia, throughout north central Pennsylvania and into central New York.