Cigna is negotiating contracts with health systems for 2024 and adding new benefits and international plan options.
Here are eight updates about the Cigna Group Becker's has reported since Aug. 28.
- HCA hospitals in Tennessee and Kentucky will go out of network with Cigna Healthcare if a new contract is not in place by Oct. 1.The dispute involves all TriStar hospitals in the Nashville region. It also affects city of Nashville, Davidson County and public school employees. According to HCA's website, the TriStar Division includes 17 hospitals.
- Former Cigna employee Jonathan Ferrie will pay more than $33,000 to settle insider trading allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Ferrie was a financial controller for Cigna's health insurance division. The SEC alleged that he traded Cigna securities in advance of the company's August 2021 earnings announcement on the basis of material non-public information he obtained through his position.
- Cigna Healthcare is offering employers a supplemental benefit designed to help employees diagnosed with musculoskeletal conditions.
- UnitedHealthcare and Cigna's prior authorization cuts are steps in the right direction, but the American Medical Association is "careful not to confuse positive developments with major progress," the organization's immediate past president Jack Resneck, MD, said.
- A shareholder is suing the Cigna Group in Delaware's Court of Chancery to obtain more information about the company's claims review process following a ProPublica report that alleges the company denies large batches of members' claims without individual review.
- Cigna Healthcare is launching a new international health benefits plan, designed for "globally mobile" older adults.
- Cigna is out of network with some of Madera, Calif.-based Valley Children's Healthcare's facilities. As of Aug. 15, Cigna is no longer in network with Valley Children's Hospital and two of the system's care centers, according to Valley Children's website. Several of the systems' primary care clinics and specialty clinics will remain in-network with Cigna until Oct. 9.
- Cigna Healthcare will exit ACA markets in Kansas and Missouri in 2024 and expand to 15 new counties in North Carolina.