7 state Medicaid contract updates

Here are seven Medicaid updates Becker’s has reported since June 26: 

1. Iowa awarded Centene subsidiary Iowa Total Care a new 4-year Medicaid contract. 
2. Mississippi awarded Medicaid contracts to Centene, Molina Healthcare and new nonprofit TrueCare. UnitedHealthcare, which currently manages the state’s Medicaid program, did not receive a contract. 
3. Pennsylvania selected Aetna, UPMC Health Plan, Centene, AmeriHealth Caritas and Jefferson Health’s Health Partners to administer its Community HealthChoices  program. The managed care program covers adults who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid or who qualify to receive Medicaid long-term services. 
4. Arizona paused contract awards to Centene’s Arizona Complete Health and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan after a judge sided with three payers challenging the decision. The contracts cover 26,000 individuals who are elderly and/or living with a physical disability. 
5. Florida awarded six-year Medicaid contracts to eight payers. The state originally awarded contracts to Florida Community Care (Independent Living Systems), Humana, Simply Healthcare Plans (Elevance), Community Care Plan (Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare), and Sunshine State Health Plan (Centene). In July, the state awarded additional contracts to Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Molina. 
6. Rhode Island selected UnitedHealthcare of New England and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island to manage its Medicaid program. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Tufts Health Plan lost out on the contracts. 
7. Texas awarded a majority of tentative Medicaid contracts to BCBS Texas, Molina Healthcare, Aetna, and UnitedHealthcare. Cook Children’s Health Plan, Texas Children’s Health Plan and Driscoll Children’s Health Plan all lost out on awards. Executives at the systems have said the health plans will likely shut down if they are not awarded contracts. Cook Children’s is challenging the decision in court.