WellCare Health Plans announced completion of its Meridian merger on September 1, 2018. WellCare, known for elite performance and practice in the Medicaid and Medicare Advantage sectors, has absorbed both Meridian Health Plan and MeridianRx, a private, for-profit health insurer worth $2.5 billion.[1]
The acquisition builds a 40% increase in WellCare’s already substantial Medicaid membership, equating to nearly 5.4 million members now that the companies have paired. Together, WellCare and Meridian expect an annual revenue of $2.3 billion with an initial 40 to 50 cent accumulation per share in 2019.[1] [2] This is expected to reach to 70 to 80 cents in 2020, then over $1.00 per share in 2021, continuing to improve in the future.[2]
Meridian boasts of over 20 years in the private healthcare and pharmacy management industry. The company will preserve its iconic name regardless of the merger, using Meridian as a subsidiary of WellCare. The insurer’s CEO, David Cotton, however, will not remain with the company.[1]
This merger which is not the first of its kind for WellCare has expanded its Medicare Advantage outreach into 21 States across the US, as well as merging successfully with other coverage providers. Growth has been rapid since 2013 when WellCare acquired Arizona Medicaid Assets of Phoenix Health Plan.[2] In 2017, it increased its Medicare Advantage membership by 120,000 members after an $800 million Universal American Corp. merger.[1]
WellCare demonstrates massive progress, but other insurance companies also report future pairings, plans, and PBMs in an effort to grow integrative, practical insurance companies.[1]
GIRS is tracking these payer trends and will continue to report other mergers in the future. If you would like to expand coverage and payment for your accounts in key payer markets, and you are experiencing claims denials for your medical devices, drugs, biologics, or diagnostics, or if you need to improve the market uptake and patient access in key markets, our Payer Advocacy Compass® (PAC) team can assist you in meeting your company goals.
To implement successful market access strategies, the GIRS Value Discovery Landscape Assessment® team can also conduct a Reimbursement Landscape Assessment to develop payer-desired strategies with clinical outcomes experts, coding experts, policy staff, reimbursement lawyers, and a panel of current insurer medical directors. This work will provide you with foundation reimbursement strategies that will influence and coordinate your clinical outcomes, marketing, and reimbursement strategies to result in the best market access outcomes. The GIRS Payer Advocacy Compass® (PAC) team can then implement these strategies to obtain positive coverage, appropriate payment, and innovative payer contracting arrangements to improve market uptake. Please contact us by email or call us at 1-844-514-4477. Also, follow our LinkedIn Company Page for more bi-weekly news on reimbursement trends, milestones, and achievements.
Source(s):
1. WellCare scores Medicaid members, PBM as it closes Meridian deal
Shelby Livingston, (September 4, 2018)
2. WellCare (WCG) Buys Meridian, Boosts Membership,
Zacks Equity Research, (September 5, 2018)