Centene to lay off 69 employees early next year

Centene Management Company LLC is laying off

69 employees in Hawaii, starting Jan. 4, according to a notice filed with the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Centene, a national health insurer, is of

Hawaii’s Medicaid market known as Med-QUEST, effective Dec. 31, and ending its Ohana Health Plan, which provided medical, behavioral health and long-term services for low-income families for nearly 20 years.

Most of Centene’s employees, 56, will be permanently terminated from an office at 830 Mililani St.

Another 11 employees will be permanently terminated from a Salt Lake Boulevard office, while one employee each will be permanently terminated from offices at Waterfront Plaza and in Kapolei.

The layoffs, Centene said, begin on Jan. 4, while singular exits are scheduled to occur on Jan. 29 and Feb. 26.

The employees are not represented by a labor organization and have no displacement rights, but are eligible for severance benefits as a result of the layoff.

The list of positions ranged from behavioral health case management liaison to executive assistant, patient care advocate, care coordinators, care managers, psychiatrist, the medical director, plan chief financial officer, chief medical officer, and vice president of operations, among others.

In an earlier statement provided to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Centene said, “between rising medical costs, reimbursement rates that have not kept pace with the high acuity needs of the populations we serve, and federal funding changes, we are no longer able to continue operating these programs in a sustainable manner while maintaining the level of service our members deserve.”

The exit of the Ohana Health Plan impacted about 24,000 members that still have Medicaid coverage, but were informed they would have to select a new plan.

Med-QUEST will choose a new plan for members who did not do so during the open enrollment period in October.

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