Cigna CEO David Cordani Discusses "Collaborative Accountable Care"

• Report rights infringement
• published: 16 Jul 2012
• views: 6155

Cigna | Collaborative Accountable Care In the U.S., Americans spend $2.6 trillion annually on health care -- more than any other industrialized nation. That's 18 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Despite this high level of health care spending, Americans aren't getting healthier. Chronic conditions, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease, continue to take a toll on millions of Americans. Through collaborative accountable care (CAC), Cigna hopes to reverse these trends by working in close partnership with physicians to help people get and stay healthy and drive down health care costs. Cigna President and Chief Executive Officer David Cordani talks about the company's collaborative accountable care initiatives. The CAC program is designed to achieve the "triple aim" of better health care quality, lower total medical costs and improved patient satisfaction -- the same population health goals of accountable care organizations, or ACOs. According to Cordani, collaborative accountable care is all about achieving the best possible clinical quality, a superior customer experience -- and from that, "a better cost equation." Cordani mentions three keys to success: First and foremost, it's important to align incentives so that doctors are compensated for improving their patients' health and not just for performing more procedures. Next, it's important for Cigna to provide doctors with patient-specific information that doctors can use to help improve health -- information such as missed prescription refills or important medical tests or screenings that are overdue. Third, Cordani talks about the important role of the care coordinator who uses this information to reach out to patients and make sure they're getting the follow-up care they need. Cigna launched collaborative accountable care in 2008 with one program in one state. The company is now rapidly expanding the program nationally and plans to have 100 programs reaching one million customers by the end of 2014. For more information about Cigna's Collaborative Accountable Care programs, visit: http://newsroom.cigna.com/KnowledgeCenter/ACO