Molina Brothers Out as Leaders at Molina Healthcare

Molina Healthcare has announced a big leadership shakeup: the board of directors has ousted J. Mario Molina, MD, president and CEO, and John C. Molina, chief financial officer (CFO). The Molina brothers’ father had founded the company, which works in the Medicaid managed care space in 11 states and Puerto Rico.

The board is immediately searching for a new CEO, but Joseph White, the chief accounting officer, will serve as the interim CEO and CFO. The board cited the company’s recent disappointing financial performance for the reason it fired the Molina brothers. Mario and John Molina will continue to serve as directors.

“With the industry in dynamic transition, the board believes that now is the right time to bring in new leadership to capitalize on Molina’s strong franchise and the opportunities we see for sustained growth,” Dale B. Wolf, chair of the board, said in a statement. “The board is committed to achieving operational excellence and improving the Company’s financial performance on behalf of our shareholders, more than 20,000 employees and our over 4 million members.”

Molina has actually performed better than most competitors on the Affordable Care Act exchanges with a narrow network and close management of sicker patients. However, most of those competitors have since significantly pulled back participation in the exchanges in order to improve financials.

After the announcement, Molina’s shares were up 15%.