From January 2015, Cigna UK HealthCare Benefits (Cigna) is making it even easier for UK employers to help their employees navigate to better health.
In a market first, Cigna is enhancing its Healthy Mind care pathway to allow self-referral to cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Cigna is also giving customers more choice on how they access care for musculoskeletal conditions. Cigna's Healthy Body pathway, which already provides fast track access to physiotherapy, now includes self-referral to osteopaths and chiropractors. With access to General Practitioners (GPs) now an issue for many people, self-referral provides a solution through direct access to care.
At the same time, Cigna is introducing a new online tool to help customers get the most from their medical plan benefits while accessing resources to support their well-being. The new online tool works alongside Cigna's helpline to help customers make the most of the choices available to them through the Healthy Body and Healthy Mind pathways.
Cigna first introduced condition specific care pathways in 2008 and has been encouraged by the positive results to date. This includes significant reductions in the number of sessions for both physiotherapy and CBT, and a steady increase in GP referrals to diagnostics. Both of these reduce unnecessary consultation costs. This has been further supported by our intermediary research where care pathways were recognised as a key success factor in managing medical benefit costs.
James Parker, Cigna's UK HealthCare Benefits Managing Director commented, "Cigna has 30 years experience in helping UK employers and their employees navigate to better health. We know employee health is important to employers and they can support its management in different ways. With our new online tool and enhanced care pathways, UK employers can be confident we will engage their employees with their health."
For more information, please contact Cigna's Marketing Communications Manager Nicola Thomson.