ST. LOUIS, Aug. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene
Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today its Ohio subsidiary, Buckeye Health Plan, has been
awarded a Medicaid contract by the Ohio Department of Medicaid to
continue serving members with quality healthcare, coordinated
services, and benefits. The contract will commence in early
2022.
"We have great respect for the critically important and
long-standing partnership with the state of Ohio. We are humbled and honored to continue
to offer high-quality healthcare services and programs for our
members," said Brent Layton,
President of US Markets, Products and International, and Executive
Vice President, for Centene. "We are committed to continuing our
work with the Ohio Department of Medicaid, our providers, and
community partners to remove barriers to care and improve health
outcomes for Ohioans."
Under the new contract, Buckeye will deploy new, innovative
initiatives to meet members' unique needs, including the launch of
new technologies and local programs in partnership with providers
and community partners.
"For more than 16 years, our local approach and member-focused
programs have allowed Buckeye Health Plan to uniquely address the
needs our members and their families face every day," said
Steve Province, President, and CEO
of Buckeye Health Plan. "We look forward to working with the state
and continuing our collective commitment to ensuring Ohio residents have access to comprehensive,
quality healthcare."
Since 2004, Buckeye has been committed to transforming the
health of the community, one person at a time. In 2020, Buckeye was
Ohio's fastest-growing Medicaid
plan according to market share, serving more than 420,000
members.
About Centene
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 25 company, is a leading
multi-national healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping
people live healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach –
with local brands and local teams – to provide fully integrated,
high-quality, and cost-effective services to government-sponsored
and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and
uninsured individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality
products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including
Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug
Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health
Insurance Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and individuals in
correctional facilities. The Company also serves several
international markets, and contracts with other healthcare and
commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services
focused on treating the whole person. Centene focuses on long-term
growth and the development of its people, systems and capabilities
so that it can better serve its members, providers, local
communities, and government partners.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements, other than statements of current or
historical fact, contained in this press release are
forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing,
forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe,"
"anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek,"
"target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can,"
"continue" and other similar words or expressions (and the negative
thereof). Centene (the Company, our, or we) intends such
forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor
provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and we are including this
statement for purposes of complying with these safe-harbor
provisions. In particular, these statements include, without
limitation, statements about our future operating or financial
performance, market opportunity, growth strategy, competition,
expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including
statements about the impact of our proposed acquisition of Magellan
Health (the Magellan Acquisition), our completed acquisition of
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WellCare and such acquisition, the
WellCare Acquisition), other recent and future acquisitions,
investments, the adequacy of our available cash resources and our
settlements with Ohio and
Mississippi to resolve claims
and/or allegations made by those states with regard to past
practices at Envolve Pharmacy Solutions, Inc. (Envolve), as our
pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) subsidiary, and other possible
future claims and settlements related to the past practices at
Envolve and our ability to settle claims with other states within
the reserve estimate we have recorded and on other acceptable
terms, or at all. These forward-looking statements reflect our
current views with respect to future events and are based on
numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our
experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions,
business strategies, operating environments, future developments
and other factors we believe appropriate. By their nature,
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to
events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future,
including economic, regulatory, competitive and other factors that
may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject
to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All forward-looking
statements included in this press release are based on information
available to us on the date hereof. Except as may be otherwise
required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the
forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether
as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after
the date hereof. You should not place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ materially
from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements
due to a variety of important factors, variables and events
including, but not limited to: the impact of COVID-19 on global
markets, economic conditions, the healthcare industry and our
results of operations and the response by governments and other
third parties; the risk that regulatory or other approvals required
for the Magellan Acquisition may be delayed or not obtained or are
subject to unanticipated conditions that could require the exertion
of management's time and our resources or otherwise have an adverse
effect on us; the possibility that certain conditions to the
consummation of the Magellan Acquisition will not be satisfied or
completed on a timely basis and accordingly, the Magellan
Acquisition may not be consummated on a timely basis or at all;
uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the
combined company following completion of the Magellan Acquisition;
the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from
the Magellan Acquisition or the WellCare Acquisition (or other
acquired businesses) will not be realized, or will not be realized
within the respective expected time periods; the risk that
unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion
and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or that the
integration of Magellan Health will be more difficult or time
consuming than expected; the risk that potential litigation in
connection with the Magellan Acquisition may affect the timing or
occurrence of the Magellan Acquisition or result in significant
costs of defense, indemnification and liability; a downgrade of the
credit rating of our indebtedness; the inability to retain key
personnel; disruption from the announcement, pendency, completion
and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or from the
integration of the WellCare Acquisition, or similar risks from
other acquisitions we may announce or complete from time to time,
including potential adverse reactions or changes to business
relationships with customers, employees, suppliers or regulators,
making it more difficult to maintain business and operational
relationships; our ability to accurately predict and effectively
manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves,
including fluctuations in medical utilization rates due to the
impact of COVID-19; competition; membership and revenue declines or
unexpected trends; changes in healthcare practices, new
technologies and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs;
changes in economic, political or market conditions; changes in
federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with
respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as
well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability
Reconciliation Act (collectively referred to as the ACA) and any
regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing
political conditions, the new administration or judicial actions;
rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental
payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting our government
businesses; our ability to adequately price products; tax matters;
disasters or major epidemics; changes in expected contract start
dates; provider, state, federal, foreign and other contract changes
and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; the expiration,
suspension, or termination of our contracts with federal or state
governments (including, but not limited to, Medicaid, Medicare,
TRICARE or other customers); the difficulty of predicting the
timing or outcome of legal or regulatory proceedings or matters,
including claims against our PBM business or whether additional
claims, reviews or investigations relating to our PBM business will
be brought by states, the federal government or shareholder
litigants, or government investigations; challenges to our contract
awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents;
the exertion of management's time and our resources, and other
expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with
complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory,
governmental or third party consents or approvals for acquisitions,
including the Magellan Acquisition; disruption caused by
significant completed and pending acquisitions making it more
difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; the
risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the
completion and/or integration of acquisition transactions; changes
in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion
for acquisitions; the risk that acquired businesses will not be
integrated successfully; restrictions and limitations in connection
with our indebtedness; our ability to maintain or achieve
improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality
scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth;
availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are
favorable to us; inflation; foreign currency fluctuations and risks
and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene has filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This list of important
factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of
these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may
affect our business operations, financial condition and results of
operations, in our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), including our annual report on Form 10-K,
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due
to these important factors and risks, we cannot give assurances
with respect to our future performance, including without
limitation our ability to maintain adequate premium levels or our
ability to control our future medical and selling, general and
administrative costs.
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SOURCE Centene Corporation