Tagged: CoventryCares

After decades of having one company oversee Medicaid, the Louisville area will now have four private Medicaid providers.

The Louisville area was the first part of the state to have Medicaid privatized, and Passport Health Plan has administered the program ever since.

But the rest of the state has since been privatized, and multiple operators compete for patients across the commonwealth.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced today that Passport will now have competition from CoventryCares, WellCare and Humana.

Last year, Kentucky state officials approved plans to bring on more regional Managed Care Operators, MCOs, to administer the state’s Medicaid program, which has been facing significant budget shortfalls.

The CEO of Kentucky’s largest private Medicaid operator says massive financial losses and bad data are to blame for the problems with managed cared in Kentucky.

For weeks, CoventryCares has sought to terminate or revise its contracts with more than a dozen healthcare providers so the company would pay lower reimbursement rates when doctors treat Medicaid patients. And in a meeting before the interim joint Health and Welfare Committee today, CEO Michael Murphy said his company's actions were motivated by losses. 

Kentucky Senator Julie Denton says the state's largest private Medicaid company is underpaying and threatening healthcare providers, and she says lawmakers may kick the company out of the state Medicaid system if the behavior persists.