Logistics Health Inc. will provide exams to roughly 600,000 veterans and people leaving the armed forces in nearly 40 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., the La Crosse Tribune reported.

Company founder and chairman Don Weber said the contracts will double the number of employees at the company to 2,500 within a year. Most will be full-time, he said, including registered nurses, clinicians, data processors and IT workers.

As part of its expansion, LHI finalized a lease for an operations center in Eau Claire, which is targeted to open Feb. 1.

"This is really a great day not only for La Crosse and Wisconsin but the entire country for expanding our services to veterans,” Mayor Tim Kabat said. "As mayor of La Crosse, to say this is a great day … is a wild understatement.”

Weber said about 4.2 million of the U.S.’ nearly 21.7 million veterans have service-related disabilities. He added that the VA intends to have all vets receive disability exams from private providers within the next year.

Posted by: Bruce Sorensen