The company that’s ending its contract with the state to manage care for more than 200-thousand Iowa Medicaid patients is laying off hundreds of employees.

AmeriHealth Caritas was one of three private companies that signed the deal with state officials to manage care for poor, disabled and elderly Iowans enrolled in Medicaid. AmeriHealth has notified the Iowa Workforce Development agency that about 400 of its Iowa-based employees will likely be laid off in December.

AmeriHealth’s Medicaid contract with the state ends November 30th. Tens of thousands of Iowans have had their medical care managed by AmeriHealth for the past year and a half. They will be assigned to one of the two remaining private insurers managing Medicaid patient care for the state.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Republican power couple who work in Iowa’s executive branch are facing scrutiny after moonlighting as agents of Saudi Arabia to oppose a new law allowing victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to sue the kingdom. Kim and Connie Schmett registered as foreign agents and received $101,500 for work in which they recruited veterans to lobby against the law. Connie Schmett says it was an oversight that she failed to list her consulting on an income disclosure for Iowa officials.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An official says the state will utilize a range of options to address an additional $60 million it plans to spend for private insurance companies to keep running the state’s Medicaid program. Iowa Department of Human Services spokesman Matt Highland says the agency will pay the insurance companies nearly $20 million directly for so-called capitation rates that are distributed on behalf of each Medicaid patient. The remaining money will come by carving out other expenses and internal savings.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A 30-year-old Cedar Rapids man has pleaded guilty in federal court to distributing child pornography. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Iowa says Craig Watters entered the plea Wednesday in Cedar Rapids’ federal court. At the hearing, Watters said that he knowingly distributed child pornography in 2014 and that he had been convicted of receiving child porn in 2009.

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — DowDuPont has announced it’s seeking a buyer for its 30-million gallon, $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant in central Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports that DowDuPont has shuttered operations at the Nevada, Iowa, plant and cut 90 workers. The cellulosic ethanol plant, which opened in 2015, is considered the next generation in renewable fuel production. It uses corncobs, husks and stalks to produce the biofuel. A skeleton crew will maintain the plant until a new buyer is found.

Atlantic Specialty Care received a rating of 4 out 5 in the U.S. News & World Report 2017-18 Nursing Home Finder report released last month. The report uses existing federal nursing home rating information and federally reported health care data to come up with their own rating system. Criteria such as annual state survey results, medical quality measures, staffing levels and rehabilitation outcomes are all formulated to reach the rating. More than 15,000 skilled nursing facilities in the United States were reviewed.

Administrator Kellie Jimerson says the caring environment the staff provide every day is the reason for their success. In a statement to the media, Jimerson said “We have such a great staff who take pride in what they do and how they care for our residents. Being named a top nursing home by U.S. News and World Report’s Nursing Home Finder is an achievement based on certain measurements. We don’t receive this distinction unless we meet high standards. It’s our caring staff who make the difference.”

Atlantic Specialty Care is a non-profit, 90-bed skilled nursing facility offering rehabilitation services, skilled nursing care, long term care and hospice care. Its parent organization is Care Initiatives, which serves over 3,000 Iowans through 44 skilled nursing care locations, eight assisted living locations, three senior housing apartment locations, and six hospice office locations.

Contrary to some yard signs you may have seen in Atlantic, a local realtor says he’s NOT running for Mayor of Atlantic. Dale Gross said in a statement from Chicago, where he was attending a meeting, that he’s had contact with several of his Atlantic friends about signs suggesting his name as a Write-In for Mayor of Atlantic.

Gross said he did not authorize the grassroots effort, and furthermore is “NOT running and do not wish to be Mayor. No one has permission (from him) to place [the] yard signs” saying anything to the contrary.

Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones is running for re-election, and is un-opposed in the bid for the Nov. 7th City election.