Cenpatico CEO to step down this week

The CEO of Cenpatico Integrated Care will have her last day with the company on Friday, Sept. 30, according to an email obtained by the Star.

Terry Stevens, who has worked in behavioral health for 40 years, said in a Monday email to staff and contracted providers that her husband’s health concerns contributed to her decision to retire from the insurance company.

“As many of you know I have had a lot on my plate with my husband’s illness and I decided that I could not do justice to both roles,” Stevens wrote. “I will truly miss the important work that we have done as a network and look forward to hearing about continued progress and successes.”

Cenpatico Integrated Care is a for-profit subsidiary of publicly traded Centene Corp., based in St. Louis. The company’s interim CEO will be Mike McKinney until a replacement is found, the memo said.

McKinney is currently CEO of Cenpatico, headquartered in Austin, Texas, also a subsidiary of Centene. The nationwide company oversees Centene’s various divisions across the country, including Cenpatico Integrated Care. McKinney, a family physician, is a past chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, was Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2002 and has held other leadership roles at Centene Corp.

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Sept. 30 marks one year since Cenpatico Integrated Care took over the state contract to act as Southern Arizona’s regional behavioral health authority, or RBHA. The company, then Cenpatico of Arizona, operated as a RBHA in rural parts of the state since 2005.

In Arizona, RBHAs administer Medicaid funding to behavioral health providers who treat patients with mental illness enrolled in AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program.

Cenpatico replaced Pima County’s former RBHA, the nonprofit Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, in October 2015. During a public forum hosted earlier this month, Stevens acknowledged that the transition hasn’t been as smooth as she expected.

Stevens started her career in rural Illinois as a child and family therapist and has worked in Arizona for 30 years, Cenpatico’s website said.

In the email, Stevens said she will continue to do consulting work. She wrote, “Make me proud and keep delivering and coordinating the services for our members.”