In its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the city:
- Landed Christus Health headquarters. 800 jobs.
- Retained VHA after it looked around for a new headquarters complex. 950 jobs.
- Became the second DFW site for a proton beam therapy facility to be built by US Oncology. 50 jobs
- Won a new center for Connextions, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary. 800 jobs.
The city also has been the beneficiary of relocations, expansions, or retention of other healthcare companies in the past three years such as Molina Healthcare, AMN Healthcare, MedSynergies, Ecolab, HMS, and Prime Therapeutics.
John Bonnot, director of business recruitment for the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, said healthcare is one of seven cluster industries. He said the city’s critical mass of medical companies makes it easier to attract others, underscoring the fact that Irving and Las Colinas are “safe choices” for healthcare.
Bonnot said Irving-Las Colinas has been able to capitalize on its central DFW location and accessibility to an international airport, rail and freeway systems. He also said North Texas enjoys a competitive talent pool, moderate real estate costs and several Fortune 1000 headquarters.
Irving’s major wins in healthcare and financial services in the past year have helped drive the city’s unemployment rate to 6.3 percent in August, well below the national rate.
Steve Jacob is editor of D Healthcare Daily and author of the new book Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits, Too Few Doctors and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us. He can be reached at [email protected].
