At this morning’s Chamber Coffee held at Cobalt Medplans, Vice President of Operations Michael Bryant announced that the company is looking for employees experienced with claims processing and customer service.

Bryant explained that the company is not just an insurance company, but that it also has other operations housed under the same roof. Bryant told visitors that the company offers claims processing services, and that the company is piloting a customer service call center that serves Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, the same company branch for which they process claims. Cobalt employees access claims in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City’s system in order to process the information. Several months ago in February 2013, the company began what Bryant referred to as a “2nd operation of taking calls.” The customer service operations allow questions from customers to be answered by employees located in the same area, which facilitates communication and allows questions to be answered by employees who have a greater familiarity with the needs and concerns of customers in the area.

Bryant said that Cobalt Medplans currently has three locations, one in Fort Scott, another in Rockford, Illinois, and a third in Kansas City. The Fort Scott location employs 90 of the company’s 150 total employees. Bryant announced that the company wishes to expand, and explained that the company needs resources with which to succeed. Bryant said, “We look forward to continuing to grow and finding those experienced resources that allow us to do so.”

In other news:

• City Manager Dave Martin announced the city’s consideration of moving the date of the fireworks display next year. Martin cited safety concerns because of the large number of people setting off their own night works during the public fireworks display.
• First Methodist Church will be offering Vacation Bible School to area children and encouraged all who can to attend and enjoy the activities the church has prepared.
• Kelly Collins, Chief Ranger of the Fort Scott National Historic Site, announced Independence Day activities to be held at the Fort. The staff and volunteers will be hosting 4 days of activities, including firing the cannon at dusk on June 29th, and living history activities on July 6th and 7th. Festivities including ice cream and music from local musical group Fuss n’ Feathers will be held on July 4th at 2:15 at the Fort.