ST. LOUIS, June 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation
(NYSE: CNC) has announced the winners of the Centene Institute
Youth Impact Award for Vaping Prevention. The national program is a
curriculum and contest for adolescents ages 14 through 19 to raise
awareness about vaping, e-cigarette use and prevention. The three
national winners from Ohio,
Georgia and New Jersey were recognized for their
exceptional work and received awards during a virtual ceremony on
June 14, 2021. The winning submission
from Ohio can be viewed here.
The contest challenged youth to take action by developing and
submitting a 30 to 60-second Public Service Announcement (PSA)
video to educate their peers about the dangers of vaping. The
contest accepted submissions from January 19
through April 16, 2021. During that time, Centene received
over 150 entries across 30 states. The winning submissions were
evaluated by judges based on the effectiveness of the message,
originality and production quality.
"Over the past decade, we have seen an alarming increase in the
use of e-cigarettes by middle and high school students,"
said Ken Yamaguchi, M.D., Executive Vice President, Chief
Medical Officer for Centene. "We are pleased with
the many students who participated in the contest. They
showed incredible understanding of the dangers of vaping and
actively became a part of the solution."
In December 2018, the U.S. Surgeon
General declared youth vaping a public health epidemic. The
COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated e-cigarette use in
adolescents. Recent research suggests that youth who vape and use
e-cigarettes have an elevated risk for COVID-19 infection.
"Due to the compounding factors of the vaping epidemic and
COVID-19, it is important that teenagers and young adults
understand the dangers they face," said Mary Mason, M.D., Senior Vice President, Chief
Medical Officer for the Centene Institute for Advanced Health
Education. "This initiative is an important part of Centene's
commitment to health literacy and disease prevention to address the
rapid increase in nicotine use among our nation's youth."
About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a
Fortune 25 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://investors.centene.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
All
statements in this press release that are not purely historical
facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. 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).
In particular, these statements include, without limitation,
statements about our settlements
with Ohio and Mississippi to resolve claims
made by the states with regard to practices at Envolve, our
pharmacy benefits manager subsidiary, and other possible future
claims and settlements related to the practices
at Envolve and our ability to settle claims with other
states within the reserve estimate we have recorded and on other
acceptable terms, or at all, future operating or financial
performance, market opportunity, growth strategy, competition,
expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including
statements about the impact of our proposed acquisition of Magellan
Health, Inc. (Magellan Health and such acquisition, the Magellan
Acquisition), our recently completed acquisition of WellCare
Health Plans, Inc. (WellCare and such acquisition, the
WellCare Acquisition), 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 of
this press release. 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 of this
press release. 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, the healthcare industry and our
results of operations and the response by governments and other
third parties; the risk that regulatory or other approvals required
for the Magellan Acquisition may be delayed or not obtained or are
subject to unanticipated conditions that could require the exertion
of management's time and our resources or otherwise have an adverse
effect on us; the possibility that certain conditions to the
consummation of the Magellan Acquisition will not be satisfied or
completed on a timely basis and accordingly the Magellan
Acquisition may not be consummated on a timely basis or at all;
uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the
combined company following completion of the Magellan Acquisition;
the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from
the Magellan Acquisition or the WellCare Acquisition (or other
acquired businesses) will not be realized, or will not be realized
within the respective expected time periods; the risk that
unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion
and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or that the
integration of Magellan Health will be more difficult or time
consuming than expected; the risk that potential litigation in
connection with the Magellan Acquisition may affect the timing or
occurrence of the Magellan Acquisition or result in significant
costs of defense, indemnification and liability; a downgrade of the
credit rating of our indebtedness, which could give rise to an
obligation to redeem existing indebtedness; the inability to retain
key personnel; disruption from the announcement, pendency,
completion and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or from
the integration of the WellCare Acquisition, or similar risks from
other acquisitions we may announce or complete from time to time,
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; our ability to accurately predict and effectively
manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves,
including fluctuations in medical utilization rates due to the
impact of COVID-19; 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 ("ACA") and the Health Care and Education
Affordability Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the
ACA and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from
changing political conditions, the new administration 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; tax matters; disasters or major
epidemics; changes in expected contract start dates; provider,
state, federal, foreign 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 legal and regulatory proceedings or matters,
including the ongoing regulatory review of claims against our PBM
business or whether additional claims, reviews or
investigations relating to our PBM business will be brought by
other states, the federal government or shareholder litigants, or
government investigations; challenges to our contract awards;
cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; 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,
including the Magellan Acquisition; disruption caused by
significant completed and pending acquisitions 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; restrictions and limitations in connection
with our indebtedness; our ability to maintain or achieve
improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services 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
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