Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed suit against Centene Corporation. (fotoguy22/Getty)
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed suit against Centene and several of its subsidiaries, alleging that they schemed to misrepresent pharmacy costs and gain overpayments from the state s Medicaid program.
According to the lawsuit, Centene subsidiary Buckeye Health Plan used sister companies Envolve Health Solutions and Health Net Pharmacy Solutions to administer its pharmacy benefit. Yost s office said it began to investigate their business practices as the arrangement raised questions.
In a statement, Yost s office said the investigation, which was conducted by outside counsel, found that the companies filed reimbursement requests for amounts that had already been paid by third parties, and failed to accurately represent costs to the Ohio Department of Medicaid.
Mar 11, 2021 3:15pm
The Supreme Court pulled a hearing on Medicaid s work requirements off its docket, likely spelling doom for an appeal from two states over the controversial program. (Getty/BrianPIrwin)
The Supreme Court announced Thursday it will no longer hear oral arguments later this month on an appeal over the controversial Medicaid work requirements program in New Hampshire and Arkansas.
Legal experts say the move likely means the case won’t be heard this term and possibly may not be heard at all, especially with the Biden administration signaling a different approach to work requirements.
“By taking the cases off the docket, the court is signaling that it won’t hear them this term and probably that it’ll never hear them at all,” University of Michigan Law Professor Nicholas Bagley told Fierce Healthcare.
(Lia Shaked)
Welcome to this week s Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news or the bad from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
UnitedHealthcare
(Skyflow)
Fawad Butt, the former chief data officer for UnitedHealthcare, joined data sharing startup Skyflow s healthcare business. Butt, who is also formerly a chief data governance officer of Kaiser Permanente, will serve as a strategic advisor for the healthcare business, officials said.
He will be focused on delivering privacy-first COVID-19 solutions as part of their recently announced Skyflow for Healthcare, they said in a release.
Mar 9, 2021 10:23am
The Whole Health Institute plans to break ground on the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2022, officials said in a statement. They plan to matriculate the first class of students at the school in 2024. (Getty/fizkes)
A nonprofit organization founded by Walmart heir Alice Walton is planning to build a new integrative medical school in northwest Arkansas.
The Whole Health Institute plans to break ground on the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2022, officials said in a statement. They plan to matriculate the first class of students at the school in 2024.
Mar 9, 2021 3:35pm
Payer execs and vaccine experts discussed patient hesitancy at an America s Health Insurance Plans event Tuesday. (Getty/FG Trade)
As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues, payers are gearing up to play a key role in easing vaccine fears and hesitancy.
At Humana, for example, this has meant connecting with members at multiple touchpoints over the past year, and ensuring that vaccine education was not their first conversation with their health plan during the pandemic, Chief Medical Officer William Shrank, M.D., said. I don t think any of our members see this as our first outreach, Shrank said.
Shrank was one of the speakers on a panel hosted by America s Health Insurance Plans on Tuesday as part of its National Health Policy Conference. He was joined on the panel by Bechara Choucair, M.D., vaccination coordinator for the White House COVID-19 Response Team; Robert Gluckman, M.D., chief medical officer at Providence Health Plan; and Nancy Messonnier, M.D., di