Topeka ? The company picked to provide managed care for Medicaid patients in Kansas has “a ways to go” before it qualifies for a license to do business in the state, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger said.

UniCare Health Plan of Kansas Inc. lacks a sufficient network of hospitals, doctors, pharmacists, specialists and other health care providers, Praeger said Friday.

UniCare and Children’s Mercy Family Health Partners, which is owned by Kansas City-based Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics, were awarded contracts in August worth an estimated $250 million.

UniCare’s contract has a Jan. 1 start date, which company officials expressed no worries about meeting.

“We are continuing to move forward with our planning and look forward to serving residents in January of ’07,” said Leslie Porras, public relations director for Unicare’s owner, Indianapolis-based Wellpoint Inc.

But Praeger expressed concerns.

“They have a ways to go,” she said. “It is a tight time frame. You have to get signatures on contracts. And that means traveling the state. Doctors are busy practicing medicine. They tend to be less available for business types of things.”

Praeger said because Medicaid recipients aren’t as mobile as other Kansans, UniCare needs to have a “pretty good network.”

She suggested that the Kansas Health Policy Authority, which has contracted with UniCare, may have to push back the start date of the contract to avoid confusing Medicaid recipients who may have to change doctors or pharmacists to access services through UniCare.

Praeger said UniCare’s efforts also might be hampered by a continuing dispute between the Kansas Health Policy Authority and St. Louis-based Centene Corp., which lost the state’s Medicaid contract to UniCare.

Centene alleges in an appeal filed with the Kansas Department of Administration that the Kansas Health Policy Authority didn’t have authority to accept UniCare’s bid for the Medicaid contract.