New Website Resources for Customers and Healthcare Professionals

Need free tools, educational information and internet resources to help your clientele manage their own or a cared one's behavioral condition? Cigna Behavioral Health is excited to introduce 3 new websites on our member portal that can be accessed by you or your client to understand and manage Autistic Disorders, Alcohol Use/Abuse and Eating Disorders. Take a look at the features!

Telephone and Appointment Access

To help assure that individuals who contact Cigna seeking care can receive appointments quickly and efficiently, Cigna defines standards for both telephone responsiveness and for appointment access. Performance against these standards is measured and analyzed regularly, and improvement actions are taken, if needed. In 2010, Cigna met goals for measures of telephonic responsiveness and appointment access goals for urgent care appointments and for office wait times. Availability of routine appointments and non-life threatening urgent appointments did not meet goals.

Continuity and Coordination of Care 2010

In several important ways, Cigna encourages timely coordination of care for people with coexisting medical and behavioral conditions. In 2010, review of treatment records showed year over year improvement from 2009 to 2010 from coordination with both Primary Care Physicians (PCP) and with Other Behavioral Professionals. Almost 89% of behavioral treatment professionals report coordination efforts with PCP. A specialized Cigna internal program coordinating medical and behavioral resources for the care of individuals with co-morbid conditions, showed increases in broad increases in volume utilization, indicating we are adding value to the care of more individuals.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a relatively common condition, found in up to 25-30 % of the population during some point each year. The more impairing or chronic types of insomnia are often under-treated and can lead to various difficulties in daily functioning, as well as to contribute to or worsen medical and psychiatric conditions. There are many causes of insomnia. The best way to make a diagnosis is by first doing a thorough evaluation that includes a medical, psychiatric, medication and substance use history. In this article we will briefly discuss what insomnia is, how to appropriately diagnose insomnia, and some of the common symptoms found in untreated chronic insomnia.

Utilization Review: How to Improve the Clinical Review Process

Cigna Behavioral Health's Level of Care Guidelines are available to provide insight into appropriate treatment levels for specific behavioral conditions. Via the utilization review process, providers can request behavioral treatment authorization. Clinical information obtained and submitted during individual assessments, and how this information is presented by providers, is vital to the utilization review process.

Cigna Behavioral Health's 2011 Level of Care Guidelines

Cigna Behavioral Health's 2011 Level of Care Guidelines were adopted and released for use in Quarter One 2011

Important Reminders!

You can help us provide excellent service to our customers by following these basic tips when submitting your claim.

"Cigna" and "Cigna HealthCare" are registered service marks of Cigna Intellectual Property, Inc., licensed for use by operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation.” Products and services are provided by these operating subsidiaries and not by Cigna Corporation. These operating subsidiaries include Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Tel-Drug, Inc. and its affiliates, Cigna Behavioral Health, Inc., Cigna Health Management, Inc., and HMO or service company subsidiaries of Cigna Health Corporation and Cigna Dental Health, Inc. In Arizona, HMO plans are offered by Cigna HealthCare of Arizona, Inc. In California, HMO plans are offered by Cigna HealthCare of California, Inc. In Connecticut, HMO plans are offered by Cigna HealthCare of Connecticut, Inc. In Virginia, HMO plans are offered by Cigna HealthCare Mid-Atlantic, Inc. In North Carolina, HMO plans are offered by Cigna HealthCare of North Carolina, Inc. All other medical plans in these states are insured or administered by Connecticut General Life Insurance Company.

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