Tag: Medicaid Managed Care

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UnitedHealth to Purchase Change Healthcare for $8 Billion

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The health insurance giant continues its payer and provider services build out with the $13B purchase of Change.

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

(Bloomberg) — UnitedHealth Group Inc. agreed to purchase Change Healthcare Inc. in a deal that values the health technology company at about $8 billion.

UnitedHealth will pay $25.75 per share in cash, the companies said Wednesday, a 41% premium over Change Healthcare’s closing price Tuesday of $18.24. Including more than $5 billion in debt owed by Change Healthcare, the deal amounts to $13 billion.

The deal will combine Change Healthcare with UnitedHealth’s OptumInsight unit to offer software, data analytics, technology and other services to the health-care industry.

The acquisition is one of UnitedHealth’s largest and is another step in expanding the company’s health services business under its Optum division. The companies said the combination would help simplify services around medical care to improve health outcomes and lower costs.

Both businesses inhabit the complex behind-the-scenes space of U.S. health care, where companies determine what medical care is appropriate and provide services to move information on claims and payments between insurers, medical providers, and patients.

“Together we will help streamline and inform the vital clinical, administrative and payment processes on which health care providers and payers depend to serve patients,” Andrew Witty, president of UnitedHealth Group and chief executive officer of Optum, said in a news release.

Change Healthcare rose 39% in premarket trading at 6:56 a.m. in New York. They had gained 16% in the past 12 months through Monday. UnitedHealth fell 2.3% in premarket trading.

Broadening Reach

In recent years, UnitedHealth has broadened its reach well beyond health insurance. Through its Optum division, the company increasingly delivers medical care directly to patients and sells consulting, technology, and data to other health-care entities.

Change Healthcare’s CEO, Neil de Crescenzo, will lead the combined business unit as the CEO of OptumInsight, the companies said. Nashville, Tennessee-based Change Healthcare has about 15,000 employees, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

OptumInsight is the smallest business unit in the Optum family by revenue, yet it has the highest operating margins of the company’s reported segments, exceeding 20% in each of the last three full years.

The OptumInsight business accounted for about $2.8 billion in revenue in the three months ending Sept. 30, according to filings, or about 4% of the company’s total. That includes revenue from outside clients as well as “affiliated customers” within UnitedHealth Group. Change Healthcare reported revenue of $756 million in the same period.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021. Private equity funds affiliated with Blackstone Group Inc. that own about 20% of Change Healthcare’s common stock have agreed to vote in favor of it, the companies said. It’s expected to boost UnitedHealth’s adjusted earnings per share by $0.50 in 2022, the companies said.

The acquisition is the second major health-care deal in the first week of 2021. On Monday Centene Corp. agreed to buy Magellan Health Inc. for $2.2 billion.

Clipped from: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-purchase-change-healthcare-13-113122374.html

 
 

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Aetna drops Walgreens from its Illinois Medicaid plan

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Analysts speculate that the move is simply CVS excluding a top competitor.

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

The removal of one pharmacy chain from the network has not created or contributed to network access issues, Aetna says.

As of December 1, Aetna dropped CVS competitor Walgreens from its Illinois Medicaid plan. 

Aetna’s decision to exclude the Walgreens chain from its Aetna Better Health of Illinois pharmacy network affects about 400,000 residents in the state, according to the Chicago Tribune. Many in this population are poor, unemployed and disproportionately suffering from COVID-19.

Nearly 2,000 pharmacies participate in Aetna’s Better Health of Illinois network, Aetna Medicaid said by statement, including other national pharmacy chains such as Walmart, regional chains such as Osco and many independent pharmacies. 

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In Chicago, there are 271 in-network pharmacies with an average distance to these locations of half a mile, Aetna said.

“The removal of one pharmacy chain from the network earlier this month has not created or contributed to network access issues, and we meet or exceed all of the state’s access requirements for managed care organizations,” Aetna said. “In fact, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services has reviewed our updated network and determined it promotes equity.”

Aetna said it has worked with its pharmacy partners to offer and expand coverage of 90-day prescriptions through mail order, offer free delivery to members across the state and empower pharmacists to allow early medication refills where situationally appropriate.

WHY THIS MATTERS

In November 2018, the $69 billion merger for CVS Health to acquire Aetna closed.

Aetna has given no reason for its decision to exclude Walgreens, leaving critics to fill in the blank that eliminating a large competitor from its network would be the motivating factor.

In 2019, CVS Health topped a Becker’s Hospital Review list of the nation’s largest pharmacies, which were ranked by total prescription revenue. CVS was followed by Walgreens, Cigna\Express Scripts, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx and Walmart. 

THE LARGER TREND

In 2018, the Tribune reported that pharmacy access was a growing concern in Chicago. Some public health experts said that more than a dozen low-income neighborhoods, mostly on the South and West sides of Chicago, were becoming pharmacy deserts.

Providers have increasingly been addressing the social determinants of health for patients as it has become clear that SDOH issues such as food and housing insecurity, transportation and isolation have as much influence on health as clinical concerns. 

RWJBarnabas Health recently launched a social determinants of health program called Health Beyond the Hospital in collaboration with NowPow and ConsejoSano, in order to refer and connect patients to community-based services.  

Clipped from: https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/aetna-drops-walgreens-its-illinois-medicaid-plan

 
 

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Humana files new Medicaid lawsuit over membership assignment – Louisville Business First

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Humana is arguing that Passport did not have the right to sell future enrollment to Molina, as that enrollment is part of plans win when they bid successfully.

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

Humana filed a lawsuit against the state over the Medicaid program.

Humana Health Plan Inc., a subsidiary of Humana Inc. that operates its Kentucky Medicaid program, has filed another lawsuit in the dispute over the state’s five Medicaid contracts.

In the suit filed Dec. 23, Humana alleges that the state violated the new Medicaid contracts when it allowed Long Beach, California-based Molina Healthcare Inc. to acquire Passport Health Plan Inc.’s membership in 2020 and allowed it keep Passport members going into the new 2021 contracts, which started on Jan. 1.

Molina’s deal to acquire Passport closed in September. Passport was not awarded a contract by the Beshear administration when it announced the awards in May.

At issue in the suit is how members within the Medicaid program are assigned to companies for coverage and whether or not Molina’s takeover of Passport allows it to acquire Passport’s membership for a new contract period.

Humana maintains that Passport doesn’t have the rights to sell off its membership and had no claim to its membership at all beyond its contract, which ended at the end of 2020.

“The [Medicaid] contracts did not contemplate that [Medicaid companies] who failed to win new contracts could auction off their members to the highest bidder,” the lawsuit reads. “Thus, Passport had no membership rights to ‘sell’ Molina.

“Similarly, as a ‘new [Medicaid company],’ Molina had no right under the [contract] to obtain Passport’s membership except under the reallocation formula set forth in” a specific section of the contract.

Humana maintains that allowing Molina to acquire Passport’s membership deprives Humana and the other winning Medicaid companies from enjoying the benefit of winning the contracts, which includes, in part, having the members from failing Medicaid companies reassigned to the winners.

The company maintains that Passport’s membership should be reassigned to the winning companies based on a process and formula articulated in the 2021 Medicaid contracts.

Humana appealed Molina’s takeover of Passport’s membership twice — to the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet and the Kentucky Health and Family Services Cabinet. Both appeals were denied, the lawsuit states.

Issues of membership

For Molina’s part, the company’s executives told investors and analysts on a public call that it hoped that it simply would get all of Passport’s roughly 315,000 members, rather than the 140,000 members that it expected to get through the assignment process, the lawsuit states. In a transcript of the call, Molina’s CEO Joseph Zubretsky said: “If we obtained all 315,000 members, that would represent a little over $1 billion of upside… to the estimate we’ve given you.”

Clipped from: https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2021/01/04/humana-files-a-new-lawsuit.html


 

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Centene Is Climbing on Its Plans to Buy Magellan Health for $2.2 Billion

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Centene adds a giant pharmacy services component with the purchase of Magellan.

M&A activity continues to pick up in the health-care space.

Centene (ticker: CNC) announced Monday that it will pay $95 per share for Magellan Health (MGLN), a 14.7% premium over Magellan’s closing price last Thursday of $82.84. Shares of Magellan were up 12.3%, to $93.00, in early trading on Monday.

Shares of Centene, meanwhile, were up 1% at the open of trading Monday, to $60.62.

The deal comes a year after Centene closed its $17.3 billion acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, another insurer focused on government-sponsored health plans. Centene is one of the largest players in that sector, with a managed care membership of 25.2 million people, with roughly half of them enrolled in Medicaid plans.

Centene said that it expects the Magellan deal to bring in 5.5 million members on government-sponsored plans, 2 million members of Magellan’s pharmacy benefit manager plans, and a behavioral health platform with 41 million members, among other businesses.

“This acquisition accelerates our diversification strategy and enhances our ability to build next generation capabilities in our specialty care business by leveraging our scale and investments in technology,” said Centene CEO Michael Neidorff in a statement.

In an interview with Barron’s on Monday morning, Neidorff said that he chiefly wanted Centene to have access to Magellan’s behavioral-health network, which contracts with states, employers, and other insurers to offer various behavioral health care services.

“Behavioral health is probably the most underserved area,” Neidorff said. “This gives us access to a very broad network… It gives them access to our technology.”

Neidorff said that Magellan will be treated as an independent company within Centene, and that outside clients will have equal access to its behavioral-health product.

“If you have a newly diagnosed diabetic, after they see their endocrinologist, they should go see a psychologist to help them deal with it,” Neidorff said. “You end up with better compliance and a healthier situation.”

Neidorff said that he expects the deal to close in the second half of the year.

On an analyst call Monday, Neidorff said that regulatory approval for the deal wouldn’t pose a major challenge. “It’s complex, but it’s something we’re very used to. We’ve had some that are far more complex,” Neidorff said. “I don’t anticipate any divestitures.”

Magellan recently sold off its Magellan Complete Care business, which offers Medicaid and Medicare plans in certain states, to Molina Healthcare (MOH) for $820 million. Molina Healthcare announced Monday that the transaction closed last Thursday.

In the interview with Barron’s, Neidorff said that the sale of that business was necessary to allow regulatory clearance of the deal.

The immediate reaction to the deal from Wall Street analysts appears to be positive. In a note out early Monday, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Steven Halper said the transaction looked good for Centene.

“We believe [Magellan Health] is a solid acquisition with modest near term accretion,” Halper wrote. “The company’s leverage ratios will certainly increase again, but given a relatively low cost of capital, the company should be able to drive incremental returns.”

Shares of Centene were down 1.8% over the past 12 months, as of Friday’s close. The stock trades at 11.4 times expected earnings over the next 12 months, according to FactSet, below its five-year average of 14 times earnings. Of the twenty-one analysts who cover the stock tracked by FactSet, 19 rate it a Buy or Overweight, while two rate it a Hold.

Clipped from: https://www.barrons.com/articles/centene-is-climbing-on-its-plans-to-buy-magellan-health-for-2-2-billion-51609771065


 

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Centene Is Climbing on Its Plans to Buy Magellan Health for $2.2 Billion

MM Summary

Centene adds a giant pharmacy services component with the purchase of Magellan.

M&A activity continues to pick up in the health-care space.

Centene (ticker: CNC) announced Monday that it will pay $95 per share for Magellan Health (MGLN), a 14.7% premium over Magellan’s closing price last Thursday of $82.84. Shares of Magellan were up 12.3%, to $93.00, in early trading on Monday.

Shares of Centene, meanwhile, were up 1% at the open of trading Monday, to $60.62.

The deal comes a year after Centene closed its $17.3 billion acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, another insurer focused on government-sponsored health plans. Centene is one of the largest players in that sector, with a managed care membership of 25.2 million people, with roughly half of them enrolled in Medicaid plans.

Centene said that it expects the Magellan deal to bring in 5.5 million members on government-sponsored plans, 2 million members of Magellan’s pharmacy benefit manager plans, and a behavioral health platform with 41 million members, among other businesses.

“This acquisition accelerates our diversification strategy and enhances our ability to build next generation capabilities in our specialty care business by leveraging our scale and investments in technology,” said Centene CEO Michael Neidorff in a statement.

In an interview with Barron’s on Monday morning, Neidorff said that he chiefly wanted Centene to have access to Magellan’s behavioral-health network, which contracts with states, employers, and other insurers to offer various behavioral health care services.

“Behavioral health is probably the most underserved area,” Neidorff said. “This gives us access to a very broad network… It gives them access to our technology.”

Neidorff said that Magellan will be treated as an independent company within Centene, and that outside clients will have equal access to its behavioral-health product.

“If you have a newly diagnosed diabetic, after they see their endocrinologist, they should go see a psychologist to help them deal with it,” Neidorff said. “You end up with better compliance and a healthier situation.”

Neidorff said that he expects the deal to close in the second half of the year.

On an analyst call Monday, Neidorff said that regulatory approval for the deal wouldn’t pose a major challenge. “It’s complex, but it’s something we’re very used to. We’ve had some that are far more complex,” Neidorff said. “I don’t anticipate any divestitures.”

Magellan recently sold off its Magellan Complete Care business, which offers Medicaid and Medicare plans in certain states, to Molina Healthcare (MOH) for $820 million. Molina Healthcare announced Monday that the transaction closed last Thursday.

In the interview with Barron’s, Neidorff said that the sale of that business was necessary to allow regulatory clearance of the deal.

The immediate reaction to the deal from Wall Street analysts appears to be positive. In a note out early Monday, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Steven Halper said the transaction looked good for Centene.

“We believe [Magellan Health] is a solid acquisition with modest near term accretion,” Halper wrote. “The company’s leverage ratios will certainly increase again, but given a relatively low cost of capital, the company should be able to drive incremental returns.”

Shares of Centene were down 1.8% over the past 12 months, as of Friday’s close. The stock trades at 11.4 times expected earnings over the next 12 months, according to FactSet, below its five-year average of 14 times earnings. Of the twenty-one analysts who cover the stock tracked by FactSet, 19 rate it a Buy or Overweight, while two rate it a Hold.

Clipped from: https://www.barrons.com/articles/centene-is-climbing-on-its-plans-to-buy-magellan-health-for-2-2-billion-51609771065

 
 

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Medicaid Concepts: Medical Loss Ratio

What is the Medicaid Loss Ratio?

Medical Loss Ratio is the proportion of premium revenues spent on clinical services and quality improvement. It is commonly referred to as MLR.

How is it used in Medicaid?

In recent years as with many things, CMS has brought new regulations for Medicaid Managed care related to MLR. These new regulations require states to monitor the MLR for MCOs and establish criteria from this data for setting future MLR. The minimum MLR has also been set by CMS at 85% and establishes that noncompliant MCOs can have rates lowered in the future.

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D.C. Medicaid contract awards violated procurement rules, judge says

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A judge has ruled that the latest round of DC MCO contract awards must be re-evaluated.

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

Clipped from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/judge-says-dc-violated-law-in-awarding-three-lucrative-medicaid-contracts/2020/12/16/4000ba38-3f41-11eb-9453-fc36ba051781_story.html

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) speaks at a ceremony in November. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

The D.C. government violated procurement laws when it awarded three of its largest contracts this summer — totaling $1.5 billion for three companies to manage health care for Medicaid recipients, a D.C. Contract Appeals Board judge ruled.

The city must reassess the contracts that govern which insurance plans are available to hundreds of thousands of poor Washingtonians, Judge Nicholas A. Majett said in his order. The decision could mean tens of thousands are forced to change health plans, some for the second time in a year.

Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage said in an interview Wednesday that he would seek a solution that would allow as many beneficiaries to keep their current health plans as possible: “The goal of the administration is to make sure that we do not have to move the beneficiaries yet again. We will do all that we can to prevent that from happening, and I believe we will be successful.”

Majett ruled that all beneficiaries may stay on their current plans through the end of September 2021.

The administration of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) decided earlier this year to move a larger number of Medicaid recipients in the city onto what is known as a managed-care plan, where a private insurance company provides health insurance to Medicaid recipients.

Three providers won contracts to offer those plans: MedStar, AmeriHealth and CareFirst. Amerigroup, a company that previously provided managed-care plans for the city but lost out on this bid, challenged the decision.

Majett ruled in Amerigroup’s favor this month, with Chief Administrative Judge Marc D. Loud Sr. concurring. The Dec. 1 ruling was unsealed Tuesday.

Under District procurement law, companies that bid on city contracts are scored on a point system. Of the seven companies that bid on the Medicaid contract, according to Majett’s ruling, the three contract recipients scored the highest, followed by Amerigroup.

But Majett found that MedStar did not include information about its leadership that was supposed to be in its bid, and that the company submitted performance evaluations pertaining to two previous contracts when it should have submitted three.

MedStar should have scored lower under the law, and Amerigroup should have scored higher, Majett wrote, concluding that Amerigroup was judged more harshly than MedStar for weaknesses in its responses.

Turnage said Wednesday that the Department of Health Care Finance would respond to the ruling. Asked whether he would consider keeping just two providers, AmeriHealth and CareFirst, given the judge’s finding that MedStar was unfairly ranked, Turnage said, “I don’t want to speak in hypotheticals.”

The lucrative Medicaid contracts have been overturned in similar fashion before, most recently in 2017.

 
 

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With new model, CMS opens up home care opportunities for MCOs serving dual eligibles – Home Care Daily News – McKnight’s Senior Living

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A new CMS direct contracting model will allow Medicaid health plans to provide more services in the homes of members.

 
 

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Clipped from: https://www.mcknightsseniorliving.com/home/news/home-care-daily-news/with-new-model-cms-opens-up-home-care-opportunities-for-mcos-serving-dual-eligibles/

 
 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ new model for 2021 enables Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) to allow in-home aides to promote flu vaccines, manage medical appointments, and receive training on meal preparation for clients with diabetes and other nutrition-sensitive conditions. As part of the model, beneficiaries must be concurrently enrolled in both Medicaid managed care and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) programs.   

The model, which CMS unveiled recently, strives to encourage Medicaid MCOs to partner with providers and suppliers, and implement care coordination programs that can improve quality and reduce Medicare FFS costs for dually eligible beneficiaries — or those who receive Medicare and Medicaid.

“Beneficiaries eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid are some of our most vulnerable neighbors and friends, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made this abundantly clear,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma recently said. “For too long we have struggled to deliver acceptable outcomes for this population, but today’s model is a game changer. It represents a significant step toward addressing these longstanding issues.”

Some examples of the actions MCOs and their affiliates serving as MCO-based Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs) — organizations that participate in Direct Contracting via a participation agreement with CMS — could take to better serve dually eligible beneficiaries include:

· Deploying care coordinators or in-home aides who provide Medicaid long-term services and supports to also actively promote flu vaccines, preventive screenings, evidence-based falls prevention, and diabetes management activities;

· Having care coordinators or in-home aides who provide Medicaid long term services and supports assist enrollees with managing Medicare-covered medical appointments to help reduce missed treatments;

· Training in-home aides — who often cook meals for their clients — on meal preparation for individuals with nutrition-sensitive conditions, like diabetes.

 
 

 
 

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Medicaid MCOs covering dual-eligibles to join direct contracting

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CMS will start allowing health plans that serve duals to participate in shared savings on the Medicare side under a new payment model (they currently can participate in shared savings on the Medicaid side). There will be 2 types of applications accepted: professional (with 50% of shared savings and losses) and the global (the plan is fully at-risk).

 
 

 
 

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

 
 

 
 

Clipped from: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/payment/medicaid-mcos-covering-dual-eligibles-join-direct-contracting

CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will allow Medicaid managed care organizations serving beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare to take part in its new direct contracting model, the agency said Thursday.

It’s the first payment model to enable Medicaid MCOs to coordinate and manage care for beneficiaries enrolled in both Medicaid managed care and Medicare fee-for-service coverage, according to CMMI. The agency wants to encourage Medicaid MCOs to coordinate care to lower Medicare fee-for-service costs by allowing them to take part in direct contracting’s global and professional options.

The professional track offers participants 50% shared savings/shared losses, while the global track puts participants fully at-risk.

“CMS believes that dually eligible individuals can benefit from more integrated systems of care that meet all of their needs — primary, acute, long-term, behavioral, and social — in a high quality, cost-effective manner. This new opportunity to participate in direct contracting creates the incentives and flexibilities for Medicaid MCOs to better integrate care for these beneficiaries,” CMS said in a statement.

Medicaid MCOs with dually eligible beneficiaries currently have no incentive to coordinate care to lower Medicare costs, CMS said. That’s because current savings from managed care investments in Medicaid services that reduce acute care utilization benefit Medicare, not Medicaid MCOs.

The agency suggested Medicaid MCOs and their affiliates could improve care and lower costs for dual eligibles by connecting them with high-value primary care providers, targeting care coordination to high-cost beneficiaries and better coordinating long-term services and supports, among other strategies and tactics.

CMMI plans to start accepting applications for all professional and global participants early next year, including MCO-based direct contracting entities.

Unlike other direct contracting entities, CMS will only use enrollment-based alignment to assign beneficiaries to MCO-based entities. It won’t use claims-based or voluntary alignment.

In addition, entities that don’t name participating or preferred providers won’t have to enter capitation-based arrangements. But if they do, they can use those payments to support population health.

For example, an MCO-based entity could enter “value-based payment arrangements with its downstream (providers) or to invest in healthcare management tools, such as innovative healthcare technologies (e.g., remote monitoring),” CMS said in a fact sheet.

According to CMS, CMMI will make sure MCO-based direct contracting entities align with states’ plans to better serve dually eligible beneficiaries by requiring them to get a letter of support from their state Medicaid agency to participate in the model.

“CMS will track both Medicare and Medicaid expenditures in order to ensure there is no cost-shifting from Medicare to Medicaid or vice versa,” CMS said in a statement.

Direct contracting is an evolution of CMS’ accountable care models and offers new waivers, beneficiary engagement tools and other flexibilities. Experts say its professional and global tracks favor new entrants over existing ACOs. CMMI has been on a tear in recent weeks, debuting its geographic option for direct contracting earlier this month. The geographic option created new ways for health plans to participate in direct contracting, just like this latest annoucement. Some stakeholders aren’t enthusiastic about the recent focus on insurers.

“We urge the Innovation Center to … put back the provider emphasis into this model. Specifically, to ensure ACOs and providers who are already focused on value-based care have an equitable opportunity to be successful in the professional and global options,” the National Association of ACOs said in a letter to CMS on Wednesday.

 
 

 
 

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Republican lawmakers ask Gov. Kevin Stitt to reconsider privatizing Medicaid – OK

The article below has been highlighted and summarized by our research team. It is provided here for member convenience as part of our Curator service.

 
 

 
 

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Providers are making one final effort to oppose Medicaid managed care in Oklahoma.

 

 
 

 
 

Clipped from: https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/republican-lawmakers-ask-gov-kevin-stitt-to-reconsider-privatizing-medicaid/article_7c25c0d4-3bff-11eb-9457-0ff4ffc89425.html

 

More than two dozen Republican lawmakers signed a letter asking Gov. Kevin Stitt to back off his plans to privatize the administration of the state’s Medicaid program, one of them said Friday.

Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, said health care providers in his southeastern Oklahoma district are adamantly opposed to converting the current state-managed program to a private system.

“You don’t walk out of a room with them confused about where they stand,” Humphrey said.

He said health care professionals have told him a switch to what’s known as capitated or managed care will mean “quality goes down, prices go up and local options will become fewer.”

The letter was signed by 24 House members and two state senators. Most represent rural areas.

Since gaining almost complete control of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which administers the state’s Medicaid program, Stitt has pressed for a conversion to managed care. His plans have met fairly broad opposition in the Legislature, but lawmakers have limited ability to halt the changeover.

Stitt has said he plans to have contracts in place by late this winter and a new system fully operational by next fall, something people with experience in the field say will be a difficult task.