ST. LOUIS and CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) dedicated its new East Coast headquarters in Charlotte. The first phase of construction, which broke ground in August 2020 and is anticipated to be completed in 2022, will span nine floors and include 800,000 square feet of meeting and office space. The second phase is set to begin in 2024, and once completed, the 2.4 million square foot campus will accommodate a total of 6,000 employees.

The campus, which is located at University Research Park, will include a number of employee amenities including a childcare and early education center, a variety of dining venues, auditorium, fitness center, healthcare clinic and pharmacy, solar charging electric car stations, walking trails, mobility hubs, and a stand-alone building housing a corporate learning and development center named Centene Tech University. The Charlotte campus will support Centene's local health plans and serve as an East Coast headquarters for the enterprise, providing innovation and advanced technology for Centene's West Coast campus in Sacramento, California and Centene's global headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

"Our new state-of-the-art campus and growing Charlotte workforce will enable Centene to drive innovation through technology and continue advancing our mission of serving the most vulnerable populations in North Carolina and across the country," said Michael Neidorff , Chairman, President and CEO of Centene. "We are honored to contribute to the economic development of the region and are proud to announce that, over time, we will invest $1 billion in the Charlotte community. We are thankful to our many partners within the city of Charlotte, the county of Mecklenburg, and the state of North Carolina and look forward to continued collaboration and growth."

"Centene's decision to build its East Coast headquarters in our state is a testament to our dedicated workforce and wonderful quality of life," said Governor Roy Cooper. "I look forward to seeing the positive economic impact these new jobs have on Charlotte, the surrounding counties, and our entire state."

"We are excited to reach this milestone and look forward to Centene's continued growth and investment in the Queen City," said Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. "Our entire region will benefit from the company's community-driven mission and commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace."

"Mecklenburg County is excited to welcome Centene Corporation's East Coast Headquarters to Charlotte," said George Dunlap, Chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. "We are also equally excited to see how the addition of this Fortune 100 company will positively impact the residents we serve as new job opportunities become available as a result of the county's investment."

Centene has hired 700 employees in North Carolina over the past 12 months and continues to actively recruit in multiple areas such as information technology, finance, compliance, health economics, business analytics, human resources, and quality. Prior to the announcement of the new East Coast headquarters, Centene employed 600 employees in North Carolina.

"Centene continues to evolve into a technology company that does healthcare," added Neidorff. "Our new campus is designed to meet the modern expectations of today's professionals while serving as a technology hub to help shape the future of healthcare."

When completed, this campus will serve as a model for the future of hybrid collaboration and engagement, enabled through a modern infrastructure. 

Centene is pursuing WELL Certification at the platinum level for the campus. Together with two other campuses in St. Louis and Sacramento, Centene has now enrolled with the International WELL Building Institute for the Centene Corporate headquarters WELL portfolio, promoting health and well-being at scale. Designed to enhance teamwork and in-person productivity, the campus will be one of the first WELL Portfolios in the healthcare industry worldwide.

About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 25 company, is a leading multi-national healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping people live healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach – with local brands and local teams – to provide fully integrated, high-quality, and cost-effective services to government sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and individuals in correctional facilities. The Company also serves several international markets, and contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and the development of its people, systems and capabilities so that it can better serve its members, providers, local communities, and government partners.

Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important information about the Company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor relations website, http://investors.centene.com.

Forward-Looking Statements 
All statements in this press release that are not purely historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek," "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can," "continue" and other similar words or expressions (and the negative thereof). In particular, these statements include, without limitation, statements about our settlements with Ohio and Mississippi to resolve claims made by the states with regard to practices at Envolve, our pharmacy benefits manager subsidiary, and other possible future claims and settlements related to the practices at Envolve and our ability to settle claims with other states within the reserve estimate we have recorded and on other acceptable terms, or at all, future operating or financial performance, market opportunity, growth strategy, competition, expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including statements about the impact of our proposed acquisition of Magellan Health, Inc. (Magellan Health and such acquisition, the Magellan Acquisition), our recently completed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WellCare and such acquisition, the WellCare Acquisition), other recent and future acquisitions, investments and the adequacy of our available cash resources.  These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments and other factors we believe appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future, including economic, regulatory, competitive and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available to us on the date of this press release. Except as may be otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ materially from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, variables and events including, but not limited to: the impact of COVID-19 on global markets, economic conditions, the healthcare industry and our results of operations and the response by governments and other third parties; the risk that regulatory or other approvals required for the Magellan Acquisition may be delayed or not obtained or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could require the exertion of management's time and our resources or otherwise have an adverse effect on us; the possibility that certain conditions to the consummation of the Magellan Acquisition will not be satisfied or completed on a timely basis and accordingly the Magellan Acquisition may not be consummated on a timely basis or at all; uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the combined company following completion of the Magellan Acquisition; the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from the Magellan Acquisition or the WellCare Acquisition (or other acquired businesses) will not be realized, or will not be realized within the respective expected time periods; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or that the integration of Magellan Health will be more difficult or time consuming than expected; the risk that potential litigation in connection with the Magellan Acquisition may affect the timing or occurrence of the Magellan Acquisition or result in significant costs of defense, indemnification and liability; a downgrade of the credit rating of our indebtedness, which could give rise to an obligation to redeem existing indebtedness; the inability to retain key personnel; disruption from the announcement, pendency, completion and/or integration of the Magellan Acquisition or from the integration of the WellCare Acquisition, or similar risks from other acquisitions we may announce or complete from time to time, including potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships with customers, employees, suppliers or regulators, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; our ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves, including fluctuations in medical utilization rates due to the impact of COVID-19; competition; membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; changes in healthcare practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs; changes in economic, political or market conditions; changes in federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA") and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the ACA and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing political conditions, the new administration or judicial actions, including the ultimate outcome in "Texas v. United States of America" regarding the constitutionality of the ACA; rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting our government businesses; our ability to adequately price products; tax matters; disasters or major epidemics; changes in expected contract start dates; provider, state, federal, foreign and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; the expiration, suspension, or termination of our contracts with federal or state governments (including but not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of pending or future legal and regulatory proceedings or matters, including the ongoing regulatory review of claims against our PBM business or whether additional claims, reviews or investigations relating to our PBM business will be brought by other states, the federal government or shareholder litigants, or government investigations; challenges to our contract awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; the exertion of management's time and our resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for acquisitions, including the Magellan Acquisition; disruption caused by significant completed and pending acquisitions making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of acquisition transactions; changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for acquisitions; the risk that acquired businesses will not be integrated successfully; restrictions and limitations in connection with our indebtedness; our ability to maintain or achieve improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are favorable to us; inflation; foreign currency fluctuations; and risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect our business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, we cannot give assurances with respect to our future performance, including without limitation our ability to maintain adequate premium levels or our ability to control our future medical and selling, general and administrative costs.     

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SOURCE Centene Corporation