VIRGINIA BEACH

Amerigroup Corp., whose growth was driven by serving low-income mothers and children without health insurance, will devote greater attention to programs for the elderly, blind and disabled, its president and CEO said during the company's annual meeting Thursday.

Jim Carlson, the chief executive officer, said the managed-care provider is examining the prospects for launching long-term-care programs in a handful of new markets, including California and Nevada. Amerigroup, he said, is now working on a contract to deliver long-term care for the indigent in New Mexico.

However, the greatest potential for revenue growth is in two of its existing markets, Georgia and Tennessee, Carlson told the gathering at Amerigroup's national support center near Regent University. In both states, its health care plans have yet to meet Amerigroup's standards, he told about 35 people who attended the meeting.

Amerigroup, which entered the middle Tennessee region in April 2007, has 355,000 members there. Its Georgia health care plan, which began operating in 2006, has 198,000 members. The company has managed-care plans in 11 states and a combined membership of 1.7 million.

Separately, Amerigroup said its board expanded the company's share-buyback program to 2 million shares. The repurchase program, created in February, had been authorized to buy back 1 million shares. By the end of March, it had bought back 100,200 shares at a cost of $3.6 million, Amerigroup said.

Its shares closed Thursday at $25.25, down 50 cents. Amerigroup's share price has fallen 30 percent since yearend 2007.

The board also announced that it had elected Carlson as chairman to succeed Jeff McWaters, who retired Thursday, about 14 years after starting the company in Virginia Beach. Carlson, a veteran of the health care industry who joined Amerigroup in 2003, became its CEO in September.

During the meeting, Amerigroup shareholders re-elected three incumbent directors, including Carlson, to Amerigroup's board. The others were Jeffrey Child, the chief financial officer of an investment firm, and Richard Shirk, a retired chairman and chief executive of Cerulean Cos., former parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com