In Brief: Centene Wins California Medicaid Pact; WellPoint Directors Resign
Centene Wins California Medicaid Pact
A subsidiary of St. Louis-based Centene Corp. has been awarded a pact to manage the care of 55,000 Medicaid managed care beneficiaries in California's Imperial County, a mostly rural area located east of San Diego.
"Imperial County represents an important part of our expansion and long-term commitment to California," said Jesse Hunter, executive vice president and chief business development officer for Centene. "Our national experience, coupled with the local knowledge and support of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, will ensure (California's Medicaid) members receive locally delivered healthcare services of the highest quality.”
The value of the contract, which was awarded to the Centene subsidiary California Health and Wellness Plan, was not disclosed. Operations are expected to commence in the second half of 2013, Centene said.
The pact is part of California's plan to expand managed care enrollment in Medi-Cal, its Medicaid program, to 18 rural counties.
Three WellPoint Directors Resign
Three members of Indianapolis-based insurance giant WellPoint's board of director have tendered their resignations.
Sheila Burke, Susan Bayh and Lenox Baker, M.D., have all decided to step down from the 11-memember board for “personal reasons,” according to a recent filing WellPoint made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The resignations come less than two months after Joseph R. Swedish took the reins of WellPoint, replacing Angela Braly as chief executive officer. Baker, a surgeon, had backed Braly before she resigned in August under pressure from investors.
Burke is a former chief of staff to onetime U.S. Senator Bob Dole, and executive dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Bayh is an attorney and the wife of Evan Bayh, a former governor and U.S. senator from Indiana.
Children's Hospital of Chicago Raises $675 Million
The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago announced it has raised $675 million for capital projects, $75 million more than originally planned.
The money was used in part to relocate the facility, formerly known as Children's Memorial Hospital, to a new campus adjacent to the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, last year. The Luries' foundation gave $100 million, leading to the facility being renamed.
"We are so grateful to the more than 250,000 donors who shared our vision for the future of pediatric medicine
and science," said Thomas J. Sullivan, president of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Foundation.
