Health Equity

Our Pregnancy Support Pilot from Cigna Healthcare^SM promotes healthy birth outcomes and maternal care for women by collaborating with health care providers to identify expectant mothers at-risk and offer personalized pre- and postnatal care like risk screenings and referrals, free prenatal vitamins and aspirin to prevent preeclampsia, behavioral health screenings, oral health, nutrition education/support, and monthly food box delivery during pregnancy for those with food insecurities. This pilot is currently available in Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles, and Orlando with plans to expand in additional areas.

The Community Health Worker Pilot reduces health inequities with personalized support by matching diabetic customers with community health workers in higher risk SDOH communities (Memphis, TN and Houston, TX) who understand our customers' cultural nuances and connect them to benefits, services, and SDOH resources/support for better health outcomes.

Our IndependentRx Initiative from Express Scripts by Evernorth Health Services^® expands rural health care access through independent pharmacy partnerships across the U.S. for certain routine, preventive, and chronic care services beyond prescriptions such as acute condition testing (for example influenza, strep A, A1C), lifestyle counseling (for example nutrition, smoking cessation), and annual behavioral health screenings.

LGBTQ+ Health Programs address health disparities faced by the LGBTQ+ community. We’ve expanded our provider directory to display providers experienced in caring for LGBTQ+ patients, implemented case management support specific to transgender customer needs, and My Personal Champion^® program makes gender-affirming care as easy as possible, including hormone and speech therapy and mental health services. We also offer transgender inclusion awareness training for The Cigna Group staff and provide additional LGBTQ+ resources to providers.

We recognize and respect our customers’ unique needs by screening for SDOH in our care management programs and providing referrals for support when needs are identified.

The Cigna Group supports our clients by collaborating with them and their employees to develop tools and resources that improve population health management. This includes direct support in the development of tools that help our clients target and address specific SDOH and health disparities in their workforce.

We've also created community resources for clients to share with their employees: National Patient Resources and FindHelp. These community resources are also available for providers to share with their patients.

We engage our diverse provider network for positive outcomes. In our Cigna Collaborative Care (CCC) model, we help eliminate disparities by giving providers data and insights, rewarding them for SDOH screenings/referrals, identifying disparities, and creating action plans to address gaps. We’ve also developed an abundance of cultural competency and health equity resources for providers, including information on health disparities within African-American/Black communities, South Asian communities, and Hispanic/Latino communities, as well as a SDOH Guide for addressing SDOH within their practice.

We recognize that the digital divide exacerbates health disparities and are committed to the development of digital solutions that promote health equity.

The Virtual Care Made Easy video helps customers learn what telehealth is, how to prepare for the virtual experience, making the most of time with your doctor, and practical steps that can lead to a successful outcome. Use this as a tool to drive health equity, by supporting digital health literacy and encouraging use of virtual care. The success of virtual care is dependent on three things: access to broadband/data, access to devices, and digital health literacy. (2:15) View transcript [PDF]

Regardless of where and how our customers receive their care, our Language Assistance Services ensure clear, simple communication for families covered by The Cigna Group with limited English proficiency (LEP) and disabilities to improve communication and health outcomes.

Our transformative, differentiated approach to data and analytics enables customer populations to be analyzed according to our proprietary Social Determinants Index (SDI). This helps us understand the specific disparities a population may face based on their geographic location and enables greater understanding of inequities between subpopulations (e.g., gender, race, and ethnicity) based on claims data.

We also use the index to identify geographic areas with an increased risk of facing SDOH-related obstacles that negatively impact health outcomes and health care utilization. With this information, we are working to enhance our clinical program offerings, close disparities, and better serve vulnerable customer populations.

• Identify communities of The Cigna Group customer populations whose overall health status and utilization are impacted by SDOH and determine if additional resources need to be deployed.
• Identify customers who are at increased risk for poor health and utilization based on their residence and for whom personalized solutions may need to be arranged to achieve better health and affordability.

By incorporating the SDI to predictive models and case management programs, we’re improving our ability to identify and prioritize customers at increased risk for poor health outcomes and utilization, so we can then deploy additional support and resources to them to create measurable change.

We’re making powerful connections that positively impact the health of all people affected by SDOH, their communities, and their environment. Through our Corporate Charitable Giving and The Cigna Group Foundation, we’re expanding and accelerating diversity support, investing in nonprofits to improve SDOH in local communities, building economic growth within diverse communities and connecting customers with community resources to help them access transportation, food assistance, and more.