On the eve of an administrative hearing, AmeriHealth Caritas Florida dropped a challenge to the state Agency for Health Care Administration’s decisions about awarding contracts in the Medicaid managed care program.
Administrative Law Judge Robert Cohen was scheduled to start a hearing Wednesday in the challenge, but AmeriHealth Caritas filed a notice of dismissal Tuesday.
The notice did not explain the health plan’s reasons for the move, which came after Sentara Care Alliance and ImagineCare similarly dropped challenges.
All three plans filed the challenges after getting shut out of receiving contracts to manage care for Medicaid beneficiaries.
The agency in April announced it intended to award contracts to five health plans and added three plans in July. With about 3.1 million Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in managed care plans, the multiyear contracts involve tens of billions of dollars.
Lawmakers in 2011 created a system in which most Medicaid beneficiaries are required to enroll in managed care plans.
The agency has gone through lengthy contracting processes three times, including a process that started in 2023 and ended this spring. In the past, it awarded contracts in 11 regions of the state; that was scaled back to nine regions in the latest process.
