Payer organizations are turning to technology tools as they look to more holistically focus their efforts to manage members’ overall health.
Case in point, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Cigna has made a big investment in digital therapeutics in two major healthcare areas, expanding partnerships to boost their presence in maternal and mental health care.
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Through their partnership with app developer Wildflower Health, Cigna is launching its new Healthy Pregnancy app which connects expectant parents to a range of maternal health benefits including personalized coaching, health assessments to determine at-risk pregnancies and guidance on how best to utilize resources like finding a suitable healthcare provider and cost and quality transparency tools.
“Our new app is designed to make it easier to enroll and engage in Cigna’s Healthy Pregnancies, Healthy Babies program, which has shown to have a direct impact on improved health outcomes for both mom and baby,” Patricia Stephenson, a senior medical director at Cigna, said in a statement.
“The app delivers convenient, personalized guidance, giving expectant moms and dads information to help them make important health care decisions in real-time.”
Based on early experiments with the app, of the members who enrolled during the first trimester of pregnancy, only ten percent experienced preterm deliveries. Among those who used the app who were identified as at-risk for preterm births, 79 percent were able to carry their baby to full term with the help of some of the tools offered by Cigna.
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These improved health outcomes also lead to cost savings by helping to avoid expensive and potentially dangerous problems like unnecessary c-sections or maternal hemorrhage. According to Cigna, the company’s Healthy Baby program resulted in more than $2,000 in average savings per participant and nearly $43,000 saved per participant identified as at-risk for preterm delivery.
Alongside the company’s efforts in maternal health, Cigna has also expanded its capabilities in the behavioral health field by integrating technologies from startups Happify and Prevail Health into their Cigna Total Behavioral Health program.
Happify’s platform utilizes small “bite-sized” activities to support emotional health such as guided meditation and games that are meant to improve mindfulness and target stress and anxiety.
Prevail Health’s technology is meant to provide peer counseling and wellness coaching for those suffering from depression and substance abuse disorders.
“We are continuing to expand and evolve our behavioral health solutions to support the wide and varying mental well-being needs of the people we serve,” Julie McCarter, vice president of product solutions at Cigna said in a statement.
“It’s our hope these new digital tools will help empower people to actively engage in their mental health, and make it easier to get support when they need it.”
Research has repeatedly shown that mental health is directly linked to physical health. People that self-report high rates of distress are more susceptible to conditions like cancer and heart disease.
What’s more is that mental health issues are also quite common. According to data from the National Institutes of Mental Health one in five adults in the United States experiences some form of mental illness in a given year.
The increasing shortage of mental health professionals has also opened up a window for digital therapeutics to play a big role in addressing unmet need in the field.
Both new maternal and mental health capabilities are expected to be widely available to Cigna members starting in January 2019.
Cigna has been pushing heavily into digital health as evidenced by a venture capital arm it launched earlier this year as well as acquisitions like its 2017 purchase of digital practice management company Brighter.
The business focus is indicative of a transformation happening at a range of payer organizations as they move into a role as partner and network for a range of digital health point solutions.
Photo: Natali_Mis, Getty Images
