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MDLIVE Launches Virtual Primary Care Platform; Cigna Will Offer ...

Virtual care just took a giant leap into the realm of primary care. As MDLIVE rolls out a new primary care platform, Cigna signed on to make the service available to 12.5 million of its members. The initiative was announced at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference taking place this week in San Francisco.

While the platform offers broad capabilities, including the opportunity to select and develop an ongoing relationship with a virtual primary care physician (PCP), Cigna will begin using it in the second quarter of this year to enable certain members to conduct virtual annual wellness visits. Cigna has been using MDLIVE to provide urgent care services to its members since 2014 and expanded the relationship this month to include virtual behavioral health services.

Numerous factors drove development of the new MDLIVE platform, including a shortage of practitioners, costs savings experienced by customers using its platform for urgent care—and patient satisfaction with those services—and physician burnout, says the company's CEO Rich Berner.

Cigna's hope is that more customers will complete annual wellness visits now that they are more convenient, Berner says, and "that's going to help get out of reactive care and into proactive, predictive health management and care." The wellness screenings will be available to Cigna customers 18 years and older enrolled in employer-sponsored plans.

While "it's early days" with MDLIVE's virtual primary care platform, Berner says he views Cigna as "one of the disruptors in healthcare. It's a signal to the rest of the industry that they're creating the next generation primary care experience."

Annual wellness visits are only one example of the capabilities of MDLIVE's new platform, says Berner.  Comprehensive primary care, including preventive care and chronic care disease management can be provided by MDLIVE's virtual PCPs. The design is flexible, enabling customers to select options so their members can chose an exclusive relationship with an online primary care provider, retain their current PCP and occasionally use a virtual PCP—for example, if they can't get a quick appointment with their doctor—or, limit primary care to certain services, such as wellness exams.

Clients, such as health systems, can chose to use MDLIVE PCPs, set up their own PCPs on the virtual care platform, or use a combination of both. The platform enables online physicians to share records with the patient's regular physician.

The virtual primary care platform is "an extension of the great results we're seeing in urgent care," says Berner. According to one three-year study Cigna conducted that measured costs for members who used the virtual urgent care service compared to those who did not, medical costs were 17% lower for those who went online first, he says.

Berner says he expects the development of virtual primary care platforms to impact payer plan designs, possibly with lower premiums for those who chose virtual PCPs.

"They're trying to incent behavior to go online first," he says, "so they'll come out with health plans where you will get lower premiums if you choose a [virtual] primary care doctor."

MDLIVE's chatbot, Sophie Health Monitoring, is also integrated into the virtual primary care platform. Sophie uses artificial intelligence to streamline registration, triage, and scheduling. In the future, Berner says that AI and machine learning will integrate more deeply into physician workflow to further optimize care and enhance the patient experience.

Mandy Roth is the innovations editor at HealthLeaders.

PPO? Co-pay? Cigna Tries To Explain Health Coverage To New Members

Cigna is launching a new rewards program next year, targeting those who buy Affordable Care Act exchange plans. In this program, though, the rewards aren't tied to shedding pounds or joining a gym — instead, it focuses on teaching members about their insurance product.

"We had a tremendous number of people who came into an insurance product who had no familiarity with how insurance worked," Manish Naik, who leads the individual and family plans business for Cigna, told Healthcare Dive.

Consumers have always had an alphabet soup of insurance choices, but the options expanded under the ACA, giving more than 10 million consumers a chance to buy insurance on the individual market regardless of pre-existing conditions and separate from employer-sponsored coverage.

However, this new population was unfamiliar with insurance products and the confusing terminology that can come along with it, Naik said.

Cigna is the latest to use incentives to modify behavior.

Centene, the largest exchange insurer, offers a wellness program for its 2 million members who receive money for "taking charge of their health." The more a member does, the more money is applied to their prepaid Visa card, which can be used at Walmart and to pay a variety of bills, including utilities, transportation and rent. It can also be used on copays and deductibles.

A member earns $50 when they complete a wellbeing survey in the first 90 days of enrolling and $50 for going to their annual checkup with their primary care physician. The reward for an annual flu shot in the fall is worth $25.

"We offer our members incentive programs to encourage healthy activity, such as regular check-ups and routine screenings, to strengthen the relationships between members and their caregivers while promoting personal healthcare responsibility," Centene said in a statement.

Cigna plans to rollout the "Take Control Rewards" program in Florida, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia after a successful pilot in select markets.

The messaging from Cigna is simple: Learn about your plan and you can get rewards.

For example, if members pick a primary care physician, they can earn points. Actions including visiting the doctor for an annual wellness visit, setting up a myCigna account, and watching short videos that explain basic insurance concepts generate points.

Members can exchange those points for items such as gift cards, movie tickets and Visa cards.

Cigna found new members in ACA plans weren't using their insurance. They would "buy a plan and never use it. They're afraid to make the wrong decision," Naik said.

Many would use the emergency room after waiting too long to receive care, Naik said, and it's a habit Cigna is trying to break with its new rewards program.

"We're trying to empower them to make decisions," Naik said.​

A majority of those who shop on the exchanges have low incomes and receive subsidized coverage, or financial help, to afford the plan they choose. As prices have gone up, the unsubsidized population has fled the market.

The populations on the exchange are similar to those in the Medicaid population, or low-income individuals who qualify for state-run coverage.

Centene has used its exchange business to complement its core Medicaid business. It aims to keep Medicaid members who earn more and no longer qualify by attracting them to its Ambetter exchange plan brand.

Research has shown that low health literacy is associated with poor health. "Researchers also found an association between limited health literacy and an increase in preventable hospital visits and admissions," according to a previous report from HHS.

The numbers on health literacy are dismal. Only 12% of Americans have proficient health literacy skills.

The concept is particularly important as more Americans have "skin in the game" through high-deductible health plans that put them on the hook for more of their health costs.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's administration is rolling out a new ACA exchange wellness program that aims to reward members for improving their health or health-related behavior. For example, members could receive rewards such as lower premiums for losing weight. Though critics have slammed the demonstration project as an "end-run" around pre-existing condition protections.

Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University, warned previously on Twitter that insurers will be able to "jack up premiums for people who can't meet insurer-determined health targets."

Bisk Best-In-Class Wellness Program Earns First Place In Annual Cigna ...

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Online program management company, Bisk was selected as a first place winner of the annual Cigna Well-Being Award®. This award demonstrates the company's strong commitment to improving the health and wellness of its employees through a workplace wellness program.

"Bisk is honored to be recognized for our remarkable wellness program," said Misty Brown, Vice President of Communications and Culture. "We are driven by the talent of our team, and we consistently strive to go above and beyond for their well-being. This award is a wonderful acknowledgement of those efforts."

Bisk's workplace-wellness initiative inspires healthy choices and physical activity through onsite fitness classes, wellness-visit incentives, stress management activities, financial health workshops, onsite biometric screenings, weight-management programs and more.

"Cigna is committed to creating a healthy workplace. We continue to be impressed by the year-over-year efforts of Bisk's wellness programs. They set the example for other companies in Tampa Bay," said Dean Mirabella, President of Cigna North Florida.

Applicants are evaluated based on the core components of their wellness program. All applications are judged by Cigna's internal, multi-departmental review committee.

About Bisk Education, Inc.Founded in 1971, Bisk partners with leading universities and organizations to deliver online degree and certificate programs to learners around the world. For the last 20 years, Bisk's online program management services have helped universities and corporations expand their institutional reach and deliver quality programs at scale. Bisk has facilitated more than one million enrollments for clients including Villanova University, University of Notre Dame, Florida Institute of Technology and Michigan State University. Bisk is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, with nearly 700 employees. Learn more at www.Bisk.Com.

About CignaCigna Corporation is a global health service company dedicated to helping people improve their health, well-being and sense of security. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits, and other related products including group life, accident and disability insurance. Cigna maintains sales capability in 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has more than 95 million customer relationships throughout the world. To learn more about Cigna®, visit www.Cigna.Com.

Contact:Marissa MoschelCommunications DirectorMarissa-Moschel@bisk.Com

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