Centene Buying Fidelis Care For $3.7B

Sept. 13--Fidelis Care, which provides health insurance to roughly 250,000 people in the Capital Region and maintains a large regional office in Latham, is being acquired by St. Louis-based health care giant Centene Corp. for $3.75 billion.

Fidelis said in a news release that Centene will maintain the Fidelis Care name, mission and management team, as well as the more than 4,000 Fidelis employees. It said Fidelis members will continue to use their Fidelis Care ID card, have the same benefits, see their health care providers and work with the same Fidelis representatives.

The Rev. Patrick J. Frawley will continue as CEO of Fidelis Care, its headquarters will remain in Queens and its regional offices around the state will continue in operation, Centene said.

Fidelis started in 1993 as the Catholic Health Services Plan of Brooklyn and Queens. It has since expanded to 1.6 million members in all 62 counties of the state and operates a network of regional headquarters. One of them is in Latham; as of September 2016, more than 400 people worked there. The insurer listed more than 10,000 health care providers in its Capital Region network.

In its news release, Fidelis said it will become Centene's health plan in New York state when the agreement is finalized. It said this will help strengthen Fidelis' mission, providing the support, investment and innovation needed to meet the health care needs of New Yorkers now and in the future.

The two companies' shared goal is to improve the health care experience for members and providers, Fidelis said.

In its own news release, Centene said the deal will give it a leading position in New York, the nation's second-largest managed-care market. It noted Fidelis Care has an efficient operating platform, a history of profitable operations, a strong balance sheet and a profile as a successfully diversified business spanning state-sponsored programs, senior programs and exchange products with a statewide network of approximately 70,000 providers.

With the acquisition, Centene expects to generate 2018 pro-forma total revenues of more than $60 billion, assuming a Jan. 1, 2018, closing date. Combined, Centene and Fidelis Care served about 13.8 million members as of June 30, 2017.

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