Cigna Continues Expansion of Collaborative Accountable Care to Improve Health and Lower Costs

• Program expands to Maryland, Washington state, southern California
• Consumers benefit from improved care coordination and greater emphasis on preventive care
• Primary care doctors are rewarded for improving patient health and lowering medical costs
• Program includes clinical care coordinators aligned to Cigna case managers

BLOOMFIELD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Cigna continues to expand its collaborative accountable care (CAC) program through seven new initiatives with physician groups in eight states, including the company’s first CACs in Maryland, Washington state and southern California. With the addition of these initiatives, Cigna now has 58 collaborative accountable care programs in 24 states covering more than 650,000 customers, and remains on track to reach its goal of 100 initiatives for one million customers in 2014. Cigna launched its first collaborative accountable care program in 2008.

These programs focus on improving patient access to health care, enhancing care coordination, and achieving the “triple aim” of improved health, affordability and patient experience. Collaborative accountable care is Cigna’s approach to accomplishing the same population health goals as accountable care organizations, or ACOs, with a strong focus on high-risk individuals, including people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.

In places where it’s been introduced, collaborative accountable care is helping to improve the health of Cigna customers while holding the line on medical costs. The programs are helping to close gaps in care, such as missed health screenings or prescriptions refills, and they’re reducing unnecessary use of hospital emergency rooms, increasing the number preventive health visits and improving follow-up care for people transitioning from the hospital to home.

As of April 1, the newest members of Cigna’s network of collaborative accountable care initiatives are:

In California: HealthCare Partners Medical Group, a network of primary care physicians and specialists with medical clinics throughout the Los Angeles Metro area. http://www.healthcarepartners.com

In Maryland: Greater Baltimore Health Alliance, an Accountable Care Organization of employed and community based providers, serving Central Maryland. http://www.gbha.org

In Missouri: Meritas Health, a physician …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance