WellPoint to reorganize into 4 units

Health insurer WellPoint Inc. will reorganize into four business units in the first major move undertaken by interim Chief Executive John Cannon.

In a memo sent to employees Friday, Cannon said the changes will help smooth the integration of Amerigroup Corp., the insurer Indianapolis-based WellPoint agreed to buy in July for $4.9 billion. The reorganization will put Amerigroup CEO James Carlson in charge of the combined company’s Medicaid business, while Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt remains in his job.

The moves follow former CEO Angela Braly’s investor-initiated resignation Aug. 28, after five years in which the insurer struggled at times to predict medical costs and keep enrollments up. Cannon was named interim CEO, and the board said he wasn’t interested in being the permanent replacement.

“Each business unit will be provided the resources, decision-making authority and direct control over matters that are critical to its success,” Cannon wrote in the memo.

Separate Medicare and Medicaid divisions will each sell plans for those government-backed insurance programs, according to the memo. A commercial and individual unit will handle sales to large and small employers, individual customers and those buying in the new insurance exchanges created in the federal healthcare law. Dental, vision and disability coverage will be under a specialty unit, the memo said.

WellPoint shares slipped 96 cents, or 1.5%, to $61.83. The shares have dropped 6.7% this year.