ST. LOUIS, May 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene
Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today that it has convened a
group of medical, non-profit and community leaders to form the
Centene Health Disparities Task Force. The task force will further
enhance Centene's leadership and commitment to ensuring underserved
populations have access to quality healthcare.
"Centene has served vulnerable communities for more than three
decades, and we have a long-standing commitment to support these
populations during their time of need," said Michael F. Neidorff, Chairman, President and CEO
of Centene. "We have seen first-hand how the COVID-19 crisis has
exacerbated disparities in healthcare access and outcomes among
vulnerable populations, and we are committed to finding ways to
narrow this gap. We are proud to pull together top leaders from
across the country to assist and advise us on this effort."
The Task Force will meet on a regular basis to provide advice
and recommendations to Centene through the pandemic and
beyond. The group will act in an advisory capacity to Centene to do
the following:
- Study the causes of healthcare disparities among the most
vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic and recommend actions to
address such disparities.
- Recommend improvements in Centene policies and practices to
further address healthcare disparities among the most
vulnerable.
- Perform outreach to key leaders in impacted areas to ensure all
stakeholders are informed, educated, and empowered to address
disparities. This outreach will include members, providers,
community leaders, non-profit organizations, tribal governments,
and government officials.
The task force will initially include the following leaders and
will expand with future appointments:
- Dr. Nelson Adams, MD Former
President National Medical Association
- Dr. Reed Tuckson, MD Managing
Director, Tuckson Health Connections and Former Executive Vice
President, Medical Affairs United Healthcare
- Dr. Michael Brooks, MD CEO,
Family Health Centers of Georgia
- Dr. Elena Rios, MD CEO, National
Hispanic Medical Association
- Kelly Buckland, Executive
Director, National Council of Independent Living Centers
- The. Hon. Rex Lee Jim, Former
Vice President, Navajo Nation
- Cassandra Jennings, President
and CEO, Greater Sacramento Urban League
- Dr. Aletha Maybank, MD American
Medical Association Chief Health Equity Officer
- Marvin Lindsey, CEO of Community
Behavioral Health Association
- Dr. Takeisha Davis, MD CEO, New
Orleans East Hospital
About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 100 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.
Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important
information about the company, including information that may be
deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about
Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor
relations website, http://www.centene.com/investors.
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 recently completed acquisition
(the WellCare Acquisition) of WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
(WellCare), other recent and future acquisitions, investments and
the adequacy of our available cash resources. 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
and the healthcare industry and our results of operations, which is
unknown, uncertainty as to our expected financial performance
following completion and integration of the WellCare Acquisition;
the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from
the WellCare Acquisition will not be realized, or will not be
realized within the expected time period; the risk that unexpected
costs will be incurred in connection with the integration of the
WellCare Acquisition or that the integration of WellCare will be
more difficult or time consuming than expected; unexpected costs,
charges or expenses resulting from the WellCare Acquisition; the
inability to retain key personnel; disruption from the completion
of the WellCare Acquisition, 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; the risk that we may not be
able to effectively manage our expanded operations; our ability to
accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other
operating expenses and reserves; 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 Affordable Care Act (ACA) and any regulations enacted
thereunder that may result from changing political conditions or
judicial actions, including the ultimate outcome in "Texas v.
United States of America"
regarding the constitutionality of the ACA; 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 on the Health Insurance Marketplaces
and other commercial and Medicare products; tax matters; disasters
or major epidemics; the outcome of legal and regulatory
proceedings; changes in expected contract start dates; provider,
state, federal 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 pending or future
litigation or government investigations; challenges to our contract
awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security
incidents; the possibility that the expected synergies and value
creation from acquired businesses, including businesses we may
acquire in the future, will not be realized, or will not be
realized within the expected time period; 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; disruption
caused by significant completed and pending acquisitions,
including, among others, the WellCare Acquisition, 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; the risk that we may not be able to
effectively manage our operations as they have expanded as a result
of the WellCare Acquisition; 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