KS Medicaid contractor charges former executive tried to 'extort' $3 million

One of the companies running Kansas' privatized Medicaid program charges a former executive tried to extort $3 million from the business before she filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit. Overland Park resident Jacqueline Leary, who had been vice president of contracting and network development at Sunflower State Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene Corp., filed suit in October, claiming a Centene manager responded to poor financial performance of its Kansas operation by blocking assignment of Medicare beneficiaries to medical providers that had contracted for reimbursement rates in excess of Kansas' standard rate.