Dive Temporary:
- Wayne DeVeydt is departing Centene’s board after being appointed the brand new chief monetary officer for UnitedHealth, prone to forestall a battle of curiosity as the 2 corporations compete in quite a few medical insurance markets.
- Veydt’s new contract prevents him from taking part in any exercise that competes with UnitedHealth, in line with paperwork filed with the SEC. Such clauses are commonplace in senior govt contracts.
- Centene, which disclosed the transfer on Monday, mentioned it can cut back the variety of administrators on its board to 10 as an alternative of changing DeVeydt.
Dive Perception:
DeVeydt notified Centene of his resignation on Aug. 1, at some point after UnitedHealth introduced the manager could be becoming a member of the healthcare behemoth as its new CFO.
DeVeydt’s new contract with UnitedHealth features a base wage of $1 million plus numerous profitable bonuses and inventory awards that can considerably hike the manager’s take-home pay. For instance, former CFO John Rex, who has served as UnitedHealth’s finance head for nearly one decade, introduced in $18.7 million in 2024, in line with the corporate’s most up-to-date proxy assertion.
In return, alongside together with his CFO duties DeVeydt has agreed to not “interact in or take part in any exercise that competes, instantly or not directly, with any UnitedHealth Group exercise, services or products,” in line with his employment settlement. DeVeydt will formally begin as UnitedHealth’s CFO in early September.
“We’re pleased for Wayne and grateful for all he contributed to Centene. He’s had a powerful profession to date, and we want him continued success on this subsequent chapter,” a Centene spokesperson instructed Healthcare Dive.
Together with serving on Centene’s board, DeVeydt was beforehand the managing director of Bain Capital and held management roles at Surgical procedure Companions and Elevance Well being, previously generally known as Anthem. As such, the manager has expertise in each healthcare supply and insurance coverage — two key enterprise traces for UnitedHealth, which has steadily expanded its community of medical facilities and is the biggest non-public insurer within the U.S., masking nearly 50 million medical members.
Nonetheless, DeVeydt is becoming a member of UnitedHealth at a troublesome time. The Minnesota-based firm has struggled amid rising shopper distrust, acute regulatory scrutiny of its enterprise practices and a tidal wave of medical prices, which led UnitedHealth to decrease revenue forecasts for 2025.
UnitedHealth has made intensive administration modifications in an try to proper the ship. Since Could, the corporate has changed its CEO and reshuffled management in its Optum well being providers division, devoted care supply unit and authorities insurance coverage enterprise. Nonetheless, Wall Road has punished UnitedHealth for its missteps. The corporate’s inventory is down greater than 50% 12 months so far.