Cigna Healthcare in the first quarter of 2027 will roll out Health Sense, a tailored customer and clinical support model that brings together health, benefits and cost information.
While the model will initially roll out for customers with oncology and cardiometabolic needs, Stanley Crittenden, MD, chief medical officer at Cigna Healthcare, told Becker’s that the team is just getting started.
“Don’t look at this as just a one-time product launch, but think about this as a more iterative process where we’re going to be adding more conditions,” he said.
Cigna chose to roll out Health Sense to those with oncology and cardiometabolic conditions first because they often have complex and costly care journeys, Dr. Crittenden said. He did not share which conditions could be on the horizon next, but he said the team is considering other areas where patients have “the greatest needs and the highest complexity that would benefit from earlier intervention.” Dr. Crittenden said Cigna is currently focused on learning from the initial rollout and validating outcomes.
Health Sense includes talk and text chat capabilities, but Dr. Crittenden said the model is not necessarily “a separate product or destination.” Instead, members’ clinical and nonclinical contexts carry through various touchpoints, such as Cigna’s app, the customer service team and clinical teams. Prior interactions are considered, as well.
“We also use AI and intelligence that will help us connect the dots across this embedded experience,” he said, adding that Health Sense does not diagnose, prescribe or alter treatment plans.
Dr. Crittenden is a nephrologist, and he said Health Sense is designed to ease the burden that often falls on patients and families as they navigate a diagnosis, something he has witnessed firsthand.
“The burden of connecting information, providers, benefits, doctors — it all too often just falls on the patients or their families, for that matter,” he said. “… Without a doubt, I don’t think anyone should be a healthcare expert when they’re just trying to get the help they need, when they are battling complex and chronic illness, and that is actually why we built Health Sense.”
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