The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced the intent to award Medicaid managed care contracts to Amerigroup Iowa and Molina Healthcare of Iowa. Iowa Total Care, which with Amerigroup Iowa has held the Medicaid contract since July 2019, will also continue to serve Iowans in the Iowa Medicaid program. The contracts in total are worth about $6.5 billion annually. Iowa Medicaid will work closely with Molina as its begins operations in Iowa, the agency said in a press release. “Over the past year, I have been working to push the Medicaid program into new territory,” said Iowa Medicaid Director Liz Matney. “We’re listening to our members and providers, making sure we hear and respond to their feedback. This is the guiding force of all we do and has proven to push us past the status quo. This is reflected in the changes to the new contracts, which prioritize program improvements and better outcomes for those we serve.” Molina will begin providing services in July 2023. Between now and then Iowa Medicaid will work with Molina on its readiness review, and Amerigroup and Iowa Total Care continue to provide services. As of February, Amerigroup, owned by Anthem, and Iowa Total Care, owned by Centene, serve about 782,000 enrollees in Iowa. Molina Healthcare, a Fortune 500 company with about 5 million members, also offers Medicaid plans in 17 other states. Amerigroup Iowa and Molina Healthcare were among five companies that bid for the contract; also bidding were Aetna Better Health of Iowa, CareSource Iowa Co., and UCare Iowa.