Centene in the headlines: 8 recent stories

From a report revealing that Centene quietly bought the St. Louis Ritz-Carlton in 2018, to the completed sale of Pantherx, here are eight news items about Centene published by Becker's since June 10. 

1. Centene completed the sale of its specialty and rare drug pharmacy Pantherx to Vistria Group, General Atlantic and Nautic Partners July 14. The payer said it intends to use most of the sale proceeds to repurchase stock and the balance to reduce debt.   

2. Centene subsidiary Delaware First Health was awarded a statewide Medicaid managed care contract July 12. With the Delaware contract, Centene is entering its 30th managed care state.

3. Centene subsidiary Health Net released a report July 7 on early lessons it has learned from participating in California's overhaul of its Medicaid system. 

4. Centene subsidiary Magellan Health appointed Derrick Duke as CEO July 7, succeeding former CEO Ken Fasola. Mr. Fasola has been named executive vice president of healthcare enterprises at Centene.

5. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed legislation July 1 that expands the state's Medicaid dental program through the use of legal settlement funds from Centene. Since the start of 2021, Centene has settled with nine states over allegations it overbilled state Medicaid programs for prescription drugs and services through its pharmacy benefits manager, Envolve. New Hampshire settled with the company for over $21 million in December.

6. Citing a plan to adopt a more "modern, flexible work environment," Centene said June 17 it is planning to reduce its real estate footprint by 65 percent. 

7. Centene agreed to pay $13.7 million to settle claims involving its subsidiaries' pricing and reporting of pharmacy benefits and services to New Mexico's Medicaid program. The payer's wholly owned subsidiaries were being investigated over concerns they were layering fees and not passing retail discounts on to the state's Medicaid program, the New Mexico attorney general's office said in a June 13 news release.   

8. Centene quietly bought the St. Louis Ritz-Carlton hotel for $98 million in 2018, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported June 10. A Centene spokesperson told the Post-Dispatch the acquisition "met an immediate need" for hotel accommodation and bought the hotel instead of building one.



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