Las Cruces-based Electronic Caregiver will hire 770 new employees under a major expansion of its remote health-monitoring services, backed by Local Economic Development Act funding.
The state will provide more than $1.2 million in LEDA money, including $1 million from the Economic Development Department and $235,000 from the city of Las Cruces, to help double the firm’s office space at its downtown headquarters at 506 South Main St.
The firm, which launched in 2009, now occupies three-and-one-half floors at the 10-story office tower. But it plans to build out a new clinical triage center there, expanding its occupancy to seven or eight floors, said Electronic Caregiver Chief Product Officer Mark Francis.
“The LEDA funds will help us acquire more space and build out the additional floors to house the new triage team,” Francis told the Journal. “We’ve already started hiring, training and bringing people on board.”
About 95% of all new hires will be based in Las Cruces, and a majority will likely come from New Mexico State University, Francis said. The company has a well-established partnership with NMSU to employ university graduates.
“We want to hire and retain local talent,” Francis said. “We’re also looking at creating new internship programs to create career pathways for NMSU students.”
The planned triage center reflects a substantial broadening of company services for the health care providers that rely on Electronic Caregiver’s remote-monitoring technology.
The company, which has raised about $85 million from private investors since 2009, has built a broad array of telehealth products to provide 24/7 telemedicine for patients. It offers constant monitoring of vitals — such as oxygen levels, blood pressure, glucose levels and more — with push-button consoles and wearable devices for patients to immediately connect with caregivers for virtual consultation.
During the pandemic, demand for Electronic Caregiver’s remote-monitoring expanded exponentially. As a result, the health care providers that use its services asked the firm to broaden its capability to provide direct triage consultation with patients, plus ongoing direct support for chronic case management, by building an in-house team of trained medical personnel, Francis said.
“Our team will provide the first line of defense to triage patients for the health care providers we work with,” he said.
Hundreds of health care organizations now use Electronic Caregivers’ services across the country, providing remote care to more than 15,000 patients per month. And the company expects to expand into Europe next year, starting with Austria and Germany.
Last year, the firm worked with Amazon to create a cloud-based platform for all its remote monitoring that now serves as the “brains” of Electronic Caregivers’ system to manage, analyze and distribute patient data in real-time to health care clinicians.
In the fall, it will roll out new technology to provide direct visual interaction with patients on computers and tablets.
The company projects an $843 million economic impact in New Mexico over the next decade from its service expansion and hiring spree.
“Electronic Caregiver is a homegrown New Mexico company that is improving the lives of patients nationwide from its corporate office in Las Cruces,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday in a statement announcing the LEDA funding.
The company’s new hires will earn average annual salaries of $53,000, ranging from $40,560 to $97,760, said Economic Development Secretary Alicia J. Keyes.
“This is an innovative company that is transforming home health care,” Keyes said in a statement. “State assistance means that Electronic Caregiver can remain in New Mexico, keeping skilled professionals living and pursuing careers in our state.”
