A U.S. government audit found that Centene Corp. has been routinely violating the prescription drugs program under Medicare. The company is facing hefty penalties imposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which stated that Centene’s system denied Medicare members easy access to badly needed prescription drugs.
The latest audit carried out by CMS showed that Centene made it difficult for Medicare members under its program to acquire the drugs they need. Policyholders bemoaned that due to delays, they ended up paying for the prescription drugs covered by the health plans sold by Centene.
Even worse for the disgruntled Medicare members, Centene failed to act swiftly on the complaints filed that eventually cut off members’ access to life-saving drugs. Because of these serial violations, the CMS imposed another round of Civil Money Penalty (CMP) that Centene must comply with.
Damages Centene Needs To Absorb
Per the latest ruling issued by the regulatory agency, Centene will need to pay up $57,660 for Medicare Part D violations and $215,000,000 for Benefit Administration Plan violations. As mentioned, it’s not the first for Centene as the company has been incurring sizeable fines for violations recorded since 2000.
In the past 20 years, the record shared by the CMS indicated that Centene had paid more than $900,000 for the same Medicare violations. In total, the company faced an obligation of over $220 million for conducting its business that ran in counter with the U.S. government’s rules and regulations.
For instance, Centene has accumulated a string of violations that exposed the company’s tendency to circumvent the law to gain an undue advantage. Through the years, Centene’s bad business practices saw the company committing unfair labor acts, hiding information from investors, and picking up lawsuits due to questionable dealings.
Centene Brand Takes A Hit
However, beyond losing tons of money due to its series of misconducts, the most disquieting damage facing Centene is to its reputation. The latest Medicare slip will see the company losing 40 points from its star rating.
Its brand value taking a big hit is just one of the pressing concerns overwhelming the giant insurer at the moment. Centene has to deal with lawsuits that stemmed from its controversial takeover of Health Net in 2016. Foremost of which is the $1.2 billion damage suit filed by Sovereign Health that accuses the Fortune 500 company of wholesale fraud.
