Centene has issued a notice of termination for its contract with Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare beginning next year over reimbursement rates, a move that would impact 3 million members nationwide, Becker’s reports. The Phoenix Business Journal initially reported the news.
The contract is with Tenet-owned Abrazo Health hospitals in Phoenix and hospitals within the Carondelet Health Network in Tucson. If the contract expires Jan. 1, 400,000 Centene Medicaid members in Arizona alone would be affected.
“They are asking for excessive rate cuts during a time period when costs are going up,” William Ellert, MD, chief medical officer at Abrazo Health, told the Business Journal. “There is a good chance we won’t have a contract with them anymore.”
A spokesperson for Arizona Complete Health, a Centene Medicaid managed care subsidiary, told the Business Journal the company intends to strike a new contract with Tenet in 2023.
“We are in active negotiations with Tenet with the goal of extending our partnership,” the spokesperson said. Read more.
