Carlsbad Location Will Employ a Staff of Up to 500
CARLSBAD , Prescription Solutions, the pharmacy warehouse of PacifiCare, is opening a new facility in Carlsbad near Palomar Airport that will initially employ about 300 people and grow to a staff of 500 within the next three years.
Prescription Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Santa Ana-based PacifiCare, has outgrown its existing mail-order pharmacy service at a 22,000-square-foot building in Mira Mesa but will retain the site after the Carlsbad building opens next month, said Glenda Owens, Prescription Solutions’ manager of public affairs.
The company fills between 15,000 to 33,000 prescriptions daily, and handles mail prescriptions for PacifiCare’s 4 million members and about 1 million customers of other health maintenance organizations and employer groups.
Before selecting the Carlsbad site, the company considered a number of other locations, both in and out of California. The company decided on a site between the existing facility and the company’s headquarters in Costa Mesa.
“We found the right building at the right price at the right location,” Owens said.
The company spent about $14 million on renovations to an 84,000-square-foot building in the Palomar Business Park and signed a 10-year, $10 million lease.
Prescription Solutions only fills mail prescriptions and offers no walk-in service. Customers can save money by ordering prescriptions in advance, getting three months’ supply for two co-payments, Owens said.
“It’s mostly used by seniors because they are the ones who use chronic medications the most,” she said.
The firm is recruiting about 50 workers for a variety of positions, including pharmacists, technicians, analysts, clerks, information systems personnel and warehouse workers.
Once the new facility is open, the company will transfer about 200 employees from its Mira Mesa office and combine them with 40 to 50 new workers. The company then plans to hire 150 to 200 more workers over the next three years.
“We’re targeting about 500 people by the end of 2003,” Owens said.
The company will retain its Mira Mesa office for filling special prescriptions with a staff of about 80 persons.
