Centene names Wellcare CEO

Name: Michael Carson

Previous title: Executive healthcare and business development advisor, AArete

New title: President and CEO, Wellcare

Michael Carson has been appointed as CEO of Centene’s Medicare business Wellcare, the payer announced on Monday. Carson, who will report to Centene President Ken Fasola, is replacing Richard Fisher, who has served as Wellcare’s CEO since 2021.

Fisher is joining Centene’s operational leadership team and will head up certain financial and operational processes, along with management of vendor partnerships for the payer, according to Centene’s announcement.

Incoming Wellcare CEO Carson has had a long career in the healthcare space, including leading value-based and health insurance organizations. The executive was CEO of value-based primary care startup CareAbout from 2021 to 2022, and also served as CEO of Bright Health for seven months in 2022, according to Carson’s LinkedIn.

Carson was president and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care from 2018 to 2021. Prior to that, he helped create and lead Medicare businesses at Anthem (now Elevance) and its subsidiary Amerigroup.

Most recently, Carson has been working as a healthcare advisor at AArete, a management and technology consulting firm.

Carson is also a board member of value-based healthcare company OneHealth, nutrition telehealth startup Foodsmart and insurance decision support company HYKE.

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