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WellCare’s Medicare Enrollment Jumps 10% As Centene Awaits

Health insurer WellCare Health Plans said all lines of business including Medicare are growing by double-digit percentages as the company clears regulatory hurdles to complete its sale to Centene.

The nearly 10% growth in WellCare’s Medicare health plan business reported in the company’s second-quarter to 560,000 members is key given that is an area Centene wants to bolster as part of its agreement to buy WellCare for more than $15 billion. Centene is perhaps best known for administering Medicaid benefits for poor Americans and selling subsidized individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act in 20 states.

WellCare’s revenue from Medicare health plans jumped by 21% to $1.9 billion helping increase total company revenue in the quarter to $7 billion. WellCare also had strong growth in its Medicaid health plans with membership rising nearly 46% to 4.1 million as of June 30, 2019. The company credited the increase in membership growth to its acquisition last year of Meridian Health plans as well as organic growth.

WellCare said adjusted net income was $219 million, or $4.31 per share in the second quarter compared to $166.9 million, or $3.69 per share for the second quarter of 2018.

Centene last week announced plans to expand its Medicare Advantagebusiness into into 100 new counties and enter a new state – Nevada – to widen the availability of seniors to buy privatized Medicare coverage in 2020.

Medicare Advantage plans contract with the federal government to provide extra benefits and services to seniors, such as disease management and nurse help hotlines, with some even providing vision and dental care and wellness programs. And the federal government has changed rules to allow private health insurers to offer more benefits in Medicare Advantage plans they sell.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019/07/30/wellcares-medicare-enrollment-jumps-10-as-centene-awaits/#65415c1e77c0

Humana, Walgreens Expand Senior Care Clinic Venture to More Markets

Humana and Walgreens Boots Alliance say they are are expanding a joint venture developing senior health clinics to more locations.

The two began a test in the Kansas City market where a pilot of two sites inside drugstores has been underway for about a year. On Tuesday, Walgreens and Humana said they will open “three additional Partners in Primary Care centers inside Walgreens stores – two in the Kansas City area and another in Anderson, South Carolina.”

The effort is designed in part to keep people out of the more expensive hospital setting and make sure Medicare patients have their care more closely monitored by Walgreens pharmacists and physicians in Humana’s health plan networks. The two companies think they can do a better job of reaching patients who visit Walgreens retail locations and making sure they get better care upfront before they get sick.

“We are finding that seniors appreciate not just the high quality of clinical care, but also the social interactions, the personal attention, the convenience and the enhanced coordination between their pharmacist, physician and the health guides we have on site,” Jim OConor, senior vice president of Walgreens Neighborhood Health Destinations said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “Together, we are simplifying social and clinical care in the neighborhood as we transform our stores into convenient neighborhood health destinations.”

The Humana senior clinic partnership is part of Walgreens response to rival drugstore chain CVS Health’s acquisition of Aetna, the nation’s third-largest health insurance company. In June, CVS said it will expand its new health hub concept to 1,500 stores across the U.S. within three years.

The senior clinics Walgreens is developing with Humana are designed to complement the prescriptions and pharmacy services offered at Walgreens with Humana’s “Partners in Primary Care” centers that opened two years ago in Kansas City.

Inside the Walgreens, Humana employees assist seniors in the insurer’s Medicare plans and other “customers, with information and assistance in accessing a range of health-related services,” the companies said when they launched the partnership last year. “From conducting diabetes education to identifying local community support groups and finding a new senior fitness class, a holistic approach to customers’ health will be available at no cost, and close to home.”

“The decision to expand our test-and-learn collaboration in both the Kansas City area and a new market – Anderson, South Carolina –reflects our ongoing commitment to provide integrated care that meets the unique health care needs of seniors in convenient locations in their neighborhoods,” Renee Buckingham, president of Humana’s Care Delivery Organization said. “Patients of Partners in Primary Care located inside Walgreens have access to a comprehensive care team, led by board-certified primary care physicians that extends far beyond a typical nurse practitioner model often housed in retail locations.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019/07/30/humana-walgreens-expand-senior-care-clinic-model-to-more-markets/#65cc1ce87e50

Medpace up 16% after Q2 beat

Thinly traded CRO Medpace Holdings (MEDP +15.7%) is up on almost double normal volume, albeit on turnover of only 700K shares, following its Q2 results released after the close yesterday. Highlights:

Revenue was up 26% to $214.1M. Backlog was up 20% to $1.2B.

Net income was up 66% to $27.5M and EPS rose 62% to $0.73.

2019 guidance: Revenue: $840M – 860M; net income: $93.4M – 97.4M; non-GAAP net income: $105.7M – 109.7M; EPS: $2.49 – 2.60; non-GAAP EPS: $2.82 – 2.93.

Previously: Medpace EPS beats by $0.17, beats on revenue (July 29)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3483466-medpace-16-percent-q2-beat

WellCare Health Plans EPS beats by $0.15, beats on revenue

WellCare Health Plans (NYSE:WCG): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $4.31 beats by $0.15; GAAP EPS of $3.60 beats by $0.04.

Revenue of $7B (+51.2% Y/Y) beats by $370M.

Press Release

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3483193-wellcare-health-plans-eps-beats-0_15-beats-revenue

Magellan Health Services EPS beats by $0.31, beats on revenue

Magellan Health Services (NASDAQ:MGLN): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.86 beats by $0.31; GAAP EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.01.

Revenue of $1.79B (-1.1% Y/Y) beats by $40M.

Press Release

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3483234-magellan-health-services-eps-beats-0_31-beats-revenue

Merck up 3% premarket on Q2 beat

Merck (MRK) Q2 results: Revenues: $11,760M (+12.4%).

Key Product Sales: Keytruda: $2,634M (+58%); Januvia / Janumet: $1,441M (-6%); Gardasil / Gardasil 9: $886M (+46%); Proquad, M-M-R II and Varivax: $675M (+58%); Bridion: $278M (+16%); Isentress / Isentress HD: $247M (-19%); Zetia / Vytorin: $232M (-39%); Nuvaring: $240M (+2%); Rotateq: $172M (+10%); Simponi: $214M (-8%).

Net Income: $2,670M (+56.4%); EPS: $1.03 (+63.5%); Non-GAAP Net Income: $3,356M (+17.6%); Non-GAAP EPS: $1.30 (+22.6%).

2019 Guidance: Revenues: $45.2B – 46.2B from $43.9B – 45.1B; GAAP EPS: $3.78 – 3.88 from $4.02 – 4.14; Non-GAAP EPS: $4.84 – 4.94 from $4.67 – 4.79.

Shares are up 3% premarket.

Previously: Merck EPS beats by $0.14, beats on revenue (July 30)

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3483296-merck-3-percent-premarket-q2-beat