ST. LOUIS and NEW YORK, July 16,
2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC)
and Quartet Health today announced a nationwide expansion of their
existing partnership to help members quickly and easily access the
behavioral health care they need.
Centene and Quartet first began their partnership in
June 2019, launching in Illinois and Louisiana. The nationwide expansion will
enable members to seamlessly access quality behavioral health care
from providers located in their areas who serve their unique
clinical needs. To support members who want access to care from
their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, all scheduled
appointments will be with providers who support virtual care.
Across the United States,
behavioral health care needs are on the rise. In March, more than
two-thirds of Americans reported feeling anxious or depressed,
according to a survey by McKinsey & Company. The following
month, three times as many adults reported psychological distress
as they did two years prior.
"During this difficult time of a worldwide pandemic, we are
seeing a dramatic rise in behavioral health needs for our members,"
said Michael F. Neidorff, Chairman,
President, and CEO of Centene. "Centene is pleased to partner with
Quartet to leverage its national network of locally-based
behavioral health providers, allowing our members to quickly be
matched to the care they need in a setting that is comfortable for
them."
Quartet's national network of care options includes virtual
tele-psychiatry and tele-therapy, enabling members to access the
care they need safely from their homes during the COVID-19
pandemic. Virtual care can also lower the stigma associated with
accessing behavioral health care services in person. In
May 2020, nearly 80% of the
appointments that Quartet scheduled for patients were for virtual
care.
"COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated our mental health care
crisis. Quartet is excited to partner with Centene to meet their
members where they are in these unprecedented times. We've been
working tirelessly to help people with mental health conditions
quickly and easily get access to the right high-quality mental
health care," said David Wennberg,
MD, MPH, CEO of Quartet. "Our partnership will help ensure that
Centene's millions of members will get the behavioral health care
they need through a network of mental health providers that have
virtual care capabilities, and are local to their area."
Quartet's HIPAA-compliant technology platform will integrate
with Centene's population health software, making it simple for
Care Managers and Utilization Managers to refer members to Quartet
for behavioral health care, track member progress, and collaborate
with the referred behavioral health providers -- all within their
existing workflows.
"We are pleased to expand our partnership with Quartet and
further equip Centene's Care Managers with the resources they need
to support our members' whole health," said Brett Hart, Chief Behavioral Health Officer of
Centene Corporation. "In Illinois and Louisiana, we have seen success with Care
Managers using the Quartet platform to help members get the
behavioral health care they need, including cutting down the time
it takes for members to attend a behavioral health appointment by
41%."
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.
About Quartet Health
Quartet Health is a healthcare
technology and services company on a mission to improve the lives
of people with mental health conditions. We connect people to the
right care at the right time. Our collaborative technology and
range of services bring together physicians, mental health
providers, and insurance companies to effectively improve patients'
health and drive down healthcare costs. Backed by $160.5MM in venture funding from top investors
like Oak HC/FT, GV (formerly Google Ventures), F-Prime Capital
Partners, Polaris Partners, Deerfield Management, Centene
Corporation, and Echo Health Ventures, Quartet is headquartered in
NYC and is currently operating in
several markets across the United
States — Pennsylvania,
Washington, Northern California, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Louisiana, and
Illinois.
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;
delays in costs associated with development and occupancy of our
new East Coast headquarters in Charlotte; economic conditions in the
Charlotte metropolitan area 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