ST. LOUIS, Sept. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene
Corporation (NYSE: CNC) has teamed up with AT&T, Connected
Nation, Dell Technologies, and Intel to bridge the Digital Divide
among youth in foster care by enabling greater internet access.
Through the K-12 Digital Divide Program, Centene and the other
groups donated more than 1,000 laptops and 2,200 hotspots to foster
care agencies in Florida and
Missouri.
The Digital Divide refers to the economic, educational, and
social inequalities between those with internet access and those
without. The K-12 Digital Divide Program is an initiative aimed at
providing foster youth with much-needed hardware to access the
internet for schoolwork, telehealth, behavioral health services,
online tutoring, job searches, and other daily activities. For
foster children who may experience additional challenges in
education, researchers suggest that online technology can be a
tremendous advantage in this area. The Digital Divide has been
acute during the COVID-19 pandemic, as computers and internet
access have been required for everyday tasks from attending school
to visiting the doctor, which could ultimately impact the youth's
overall health and wellness.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of
reliable access to the internet due to the shift to remote
learning," said Brent Layton,
President and Chief Operating Officer for Centene. "We believe that
by providing children in foster care communities with reliable
access to proper equipment and the internet, we can help to bridge
the Digital Divide."
With this initiative, Centene, AT&T, Connected Nation, Dell
Technologies, and Intel have deployed the Dell Chromebooks and
Wi-Fi-enabled hotspots to foster care agencies. The foster care
agencies will then identify youth who have the greatest need to
receive the devices. The computers include access to online
productivity applications and communications tools, allowing the
youth to use them for school and also telehealth visits if
needed.
"In a world that's increasingly reliant on technology,
connectivity is one of the most important tools for advancing the
education of students everywhere," said Mylayna Albright, AVP,
Corporate Social Responsibility, AT&T. "This program brings
together major players in the health and technology industries to
ensure foster youth can access important digital resources that
address physical, mental and emotional wellbeing."
"This program addresses a critical need for children who are
already facing unique challenges and difficulties," said
Tom Ferree, Chairman & CEO,
Connected Nation. "By providing youth who are in foster care with
the tools they need to take part in our increasingly digital world,
we are not only giving them the access to resources that will help
them grow in a positive way and flourish, but we are saying to
these children that we care about and want to help them excel."
"We believe that technology has the ability to transform
communities. While the pandemic resulted in a new, virtual way of
living, it dramatically increased the disparity between those with
access and those without," said Jessica
Anderson, Director of Strategic Giving, Dell Technologies.
"The K-12 Digital Divide Program helps provide equitable access to
participating foster families, giving them some of the resources
they need for school, healthcare and work."
"As part of Intel's RISE 2030 goals, our company aims to make
technology fully inclusive and expand digital readiness. This
project aligned perfectly with our Intel Rise Technology
Initiative, where we review and fund projects related to
healthcare, education and the economy with dedicated workstreams
for social equity and human rights, accessibility, and climate
action," said Rick Echevarria, VP
and GM of Intel's Enterprise Sales Solutions. "At a basic
level, we can only address the Digital Divide in education by first
ensuring students have the necessary technology resources and tools
to succeed. It is only by working with others that we can find
innovative solutions to this persistent issue."
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.
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 proposed
acquisition of Magellan Health (the Magellan Acquisition), our
completed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WellCare and
such acquisition, the WellCare Acquisition), other recent and
future acquisitions, investments, the adequacy of our available
cash resources and our settlements with Ohio and Mississippi to resolve claims and/or
allegations made by those states with regard to past practices at
Envolve Pharmacy Solutions, Inc. (Envolve), as our pharmacy
benefits manager (PBM) subsidiary, and other possible future claims
and settlements related to the past 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.
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,
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; 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 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;
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 legal or regulatory proceedings or matters,
including claims against our PBM business or whether additional
claims, reviews or investigations relating to our PBM business will
be brought by 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 (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