ST. LOUIS and WASHINGTON, D.C., June
8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the U.S. continues to face
the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted
communities of color, Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), a leading
multi-national healthcare enterprise, and the National Minority
Quality Forum (NMQF), an independent research and educational
organization dedicated to ensuring high-risk racial and ethnic
populations receive optimal healthcare, announced today a research
partnership for the "Minority and Rural Health Coronavirus Study
(MRCS)" to assess the impact of COVID-19 on racial minorities
and underserved communities across the country.
Racial Minorities, Underserved Populations Disproportionately
Impacted by COVID-19
While the effects of the pandemic are still emerging, current
data suggests certain populations are more vulnerable than others.
In addition to those age 65 and older, recent data suggests the
virus is having a disproportionate impact on communities of
color.
According to a recent study from APM Research Lab, African
Americans are dying from the virus at nearly three times the rate
of white Americans. Further, in 42 states plus Washington D.C., Hispanics/Latinos make up a
greater share of confirmed cases than their share of the
population. In eight states, it's more than four times greater. And
in states that categorize Native Americans in demographic results,
early data indicates dramatically disproportionate rates of
infection and death. In New
Mexico, for example, Native Americans make up less than 10%
of the population but over one-third of coronavirus cases.
"Over the past few months, we have experienced a world upended
by a global pandemic and a country faced with civil unrest," said
Michael F. Neidorff, Chairman,
President and CEO of Centene. "As a company providing health
coverage to one in 15 Americans, we remain committed to taking
action and playing a vital role in protecting the health of our
members and local communities by identifying healthcare solutions
to help address health disparities impacting our most vulnerable
citizens."
"The pandemic has shined a bright light on what we have known
for decades: throughout our nation's history, racial minorities
have experienced reduced access to healthcare, higher rates of
chronic conditions and, ultimately, higher rates of mortality
across a range of health conditions," said Gary Puckrein, President and CEO of NMQF. "With
so many minority populations serving in essential roles on the
front lines of this pandemic, we have an urgent need to provide
them with accessible, equitable healthcare."
A Focus on Testing and Research to Raise Awareness, Increase
Access
MRCS is a prospective longitudinal study of the risk
factors associated with the disproportionate impact that
coronavirus is having on racial minorities and rural communities.
Beginning in June, Centene, NMQF, and a range of other public and
private healthcare entities including Quest Diagnostics, will
conduct COVID-19 PCR testing (to confirm current COVID-19
infection) and antibody testing (to confirm previous COVID-19
infection) at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in five
states across the country. Quest will
also contribute its Health Trends data to support the research.
Testing will be available to the general public at no cost. All
testing locations were pre-identified based on various demographic
characteristics, including a high proportion of African American
deaths in proportion to the overall state population and a presence
of communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted
by COVID-19.
The MRCS will utilize a phased-in approach to follow a volunteer
cohort of 5,000 racial and ethnic minority participants for five
years to examine the impact of COVID-19 on them and their families.
Those who test positive for COVID-19 will receive monitoring kits
and a daily call from providers for the first 14 days to provide
medical advice and help monitor any progression of symptoms,
followed by once-per-week calls for one month.
Centene and NMQF have convened researchers and academics from
across the country to analyze and translate survey data, and, based
on the findings, provide valuable data and evidence-based solutions
to inform the public health response and help reduce healthcare
disparities among underserved populations. Members of the research
team include:
- Suja M. Mathew, MD, FACP
- Chair of Medicine, Cook County Health and Hospitals System
(Principle Investigator)
- Richard Beswick, PhD, MBA
– Vice President of Research & Chief Research Officer, Cottage
Health Research Institute, Cottage Health
- Vin Gupta, MD, MPA, MSc –
Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University
of Washington
- Latrice Landry, PhD, MMSc
– Fellow, Brigham and Women's
Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School
- Thomas LaVeist, PhD –
Dean of the School of Public Health and
Tropical Medicine, Tulane University
- Salaheddin Mahmud, MD, PhD,
FRCPC – Professor and Director of the Department of Community
Health Sciences, University of
Manitoba
- William A. Meyer, PhD –
Medical Science Liaison Director, Quest Diagnostics
- Alan Morgan – Chief
Executive Officer, National Rural Health Association (Patient
Advocate)
- Elizabeth Ofili, MD, MPH,
FACC – Morehouse College of
Medicine, Professor Medicine, Director & Senior Associate Dean,
Clinical Research Center & Clinical and Translational
Research
- Gary Puckrein, PhD
– President, National Minority Quality Forum (Patient
Advocate)
- Gloria Wilder, MD, MPH –
Vice President, Innovation and Health Transformation, Centene
Corporation
Communities Together in Health
The MCRS
research partnership falls under Centene's broader Communities
Together in Health, an initiative led by Centene to help raise
awareness around health disparities. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Communities Together in Health is working to engage key
healthcare stakeholders – including members, providers, community
leaders, nonprofit organizations, tribal governments and government
officials – to help address disparities in the healthcare system,
while recommending evidence-based solutions and policies to further
address health disparities across the country.
About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a
Fortune 50 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.
About the National Minority Quality Forum
The National
Minority Quality Forum assists health care providers,
professionals, administrators, researchers, policymakers, and
community and faith-based organizations in delivering appropriate
health care to minority communities. This assistance is based on
providing the evidence in the form of science, research, and
analysis that will lead to the effective organization and
management of system resources to improve the quality and safety of
health care for the entire U.S. population, including
minorities.
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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