Bruce
JapsenSenior Contributor Jun 30, 2020,09:49am EDT
Chairman and CEO of
Centene, Michael F. Neidorff[+]
GETTY IMAGES
Centene said Tuesday it will acquire the
membership of NextLevel Health Partners, which serves about 54,000 Medicaid
members in Chicago’s Cook County.
The deal is important to Centene, which
continues to gain share in key U.S. markets across the country and NextLevel
has a substantial presence and doctor network in the Chicago market. The
NextLevel membership will exist under Centene’s Illinois subsidiary, Meridian
Health Plan of Illinois.
“Under the agreement, Meridian will be
assigned 100% of NextLevel’s approximately 54,000 members who access benefits
from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family
Services’ HealthChoice Illinois Program,” Centene said in a statement. “As
part of the agreement, Meridian has executed a care coordination agreement
with NLHP to ensure continuity of care for a subset of the assigned
membership, effective concurrently with the closing of the transaction.”
Centene said it provided an undisclosed
amount of “initial capital” NextLevel needed to get an HMO licensure at the end
of 2017, which the insurer said enabled “a minority-owned and -operated health
plan to participate in the Illinois Medicaid program.” Following that
investment, Centene said it has continued to provide “operational support”
to NextLevel.
“We are pleased to continue to
support NextLevel Health Partners by entering into a care
coordination agreement, while expanding our presence in Cook
County and working with our members, providers and government partners to
achieve better health outcomes at lower costs for the state of Illinois,”
Centene chairman and chief executive Michael Neidorff. said. “We look forward
to leveraging our scale and continuing to grow our relationships with these
valued partners.”
Financial terms of the deal, which is expected
to close next month, weren’t disclosed.
NextLevel has been trying to work out a deal
with bigger players. Earlier this year, an acquisition by Molina Healthcare was
called off. Molina had agreed to pay $50 million to
buy Chicago-based Medicaid health plan NextLevel Health Partners.
NextLevel’s chief executive said she was happy
the care of the plan’s members would continue to be coordinated.
“NextLevel Health’s local,
community-based approach combines a culturally sensitive lens and the
recognition of social determinants of health,” Dr. Cheryl Whitaker, Chief
Executive Officer of NextLevel Health Partners said in a statement. “We are pleased to
transition to providing care coordination to help ensure our members
continue receiving quality care that improves the health of communities
across Cook County.”
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