Cigna-HealthSpring, UPHS Confirm Network Expansion Agreement
“Our shared goals put the patient at the center and empower our physicians to improve health outcomes and provide a personalized customer experience.”
By - Cigna-HealthSpring and The University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) have announced new collaboration efforts to expand a 2016 network relationship agreement and provide supplementary resources and a series of well-coordinated incentives.
The ultimate objective of the network agreement is to enhance the overarching quality of patient care delivery. The expansion allows customers to choose a 2016 Cigna-HealthSpring Fall open enrollment period in connection with UPHS physicians who are covered at the in-network benefit level, explains a press release.
UPHS: our shared goals empower physicians
Says Ralph Muller, The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s Chief Executive Officer, regarding this network relationship agreement, “By expanding our relationship, together we are able to increase health care access for residents of the tri-state area, close gaps in care and proactively address health issues before they become more serious and more costly.”
“Our shared goals put the patient at the center and empower our physicians to improve health outcomes and provide a personalized customer experience,” Muller adds.
UPHS, connected to a data breach last year involving an alleged printing malfunction, represents three different hospitals in association with an over $5 billion enterprise.
UPHS’s patient care facilities include The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Wissahickon Hospice, and the nation’s very first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital.
Cigna-HealthSpring: collaborative programs help close gaps
According to Dr. Laura Reich, Cigna-HealthSpring Market Manager for Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region, Cigna-HealthSpring – a Cigna company focused on helping the Medicare and Medicaid population – collaborates with primary care physicians to help customers receive needed services and care from trustworthy healthcare professionals and specialists.
“Our collaborative programs have helped close gaps in care such as missed health screenings or prescription refills and improved follow-up care for customer’s transitioning from the hospital to home,” Reich states.
As HealthITAnalytics.com reported, these types of efforts associated with population health management efforts are both a trending and imperative focus. In particular, the specific use of data analytics can help patients make up for lost time regarding missed screenings and implement other advantageous focuses that go well beyond the notion of merely treating an initially diagnosed disease.
Cigna-HealthSpring operates health plans across Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.
Cigna-HealthSpring’s Medical Senior Director of Quality, Dr. Paige Reichert, claimed earlier this year via an EHRIntelligence.com report that poorer health outcomes of dual eligible members are not associated with plan quality levels.
“Clearly the issues that are affecting the health outcomes of disadvantaged beneficiaries need to be addressed to eliminate health disparities, and should also be taken into account when measuring the quality of Medicare managed care plans,” stated Reichert.
