CareSource forms partnership in bid to provide services in Kansas

From left, Erhardt Preitauer, president and CEO of CareSource; Colin Thomasset, CEO of Wheat State Healthcare, representing the Association of Community Mental Health Centers; Matt Fletcher, executive director of InterHab; and Rachel Marsh, CEO of the Children’s Alliance of Kansas. Those organizations recently partnered to make a bid to service Kansas' Medicaid members. PROVIDED

From left, Erhardt Preitauer, president and CEO of CareSource; Colin Thomasset, CEO of Wheat State Healthcare, representing the Association of Community Mental Health Centers; Matt Fletcher, executive director of InterHab; and Rachel Marsh, CEO of the Children’s Alliance of Kansas. Those organizations recently partnered to make a bid to service Kansas' Medicaid members. PROVIDED

The Kansas branch of Dayton-based insurer CareSource formed a partnership with three organizations in Kansas as part of a future bid to serve KanCare members, the program through which the state of Kansas administers Medicaid.

“We know that integrating the deep expertise of leading, influential organizations into the design and governance of Medicaid programs consistently improves health equity, member experience and health outcomes while managing the cost of care,” said Erhardt Preitauer, president and CEO of CareSource. “I’m confident that this alliance will reinvigorate health care in Kansas and become a national model.”

CareSource, which administers one of the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care plans, is one of the largest employers the Dayton area, with about 3,000 employees here and about 4,500 total.

CareSource covers 2.3 million people in multiple states, including in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. It is also part of a team offering services in Arkansas for people with developmental disabilities. CareSource also serves Marketplace clients in North Carolina. CareSource also received a contract to serve Medicaid members in Mississippi, but they have not started serving members yet.

CareSource Kansas, which opened an office in Topeka in 2021, is partnering with InterHab, which is focused on helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; the Children’s Alliance of Kansas, which is geared toward foster and adoptive families; and the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas Inc., which is an advocate for mental center centers.

Together they form the Medicaid health plan called CareSource HealthAlliance, through which they hope to provide services to KanCare members following the state’s bid process.

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