Cigna Plans are Highest-Ranked in Colorado in Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) Category, According to NCQA's Private Health Insurance Plan...

Cigna Plans are Highest-Ranked in Colorado in Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) Category, According to NCQA's Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings

BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Sept. 21 -- CIGNA issued the following news release:

Cigna's (NYSE:CI) Preferred Provider Organization-type (PPO-type) health plans are the highest-ranked among similar plans in Colorado*, according to National Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA's) Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012-2013.The rankings are based on NCQA's measurement of a health plan's performance in three categories: improving health care quality, providing responsive customer service and achieving high scores on NCQA accreditation surveys."Rankings such as NCQA's are important because they identify where our plans are meeting or exceeding important performance measures, as well as areas for continued improvement," said Kim Bimestefer, Cigna president and general manager for the Mountain States. "Our goal is to help our clients and customers improve health and control costs in a customer-centric way. We are pleased to be recognized by NCQA for our quality of care and service."Bimestefer said that Cigna's focus on health improvement and customer service takes many forms, for example, health coaching and wellness programs, condition support programs for those chronic health issues such as diabetes, and integrating medical, disability, behavioral and pharmacy programs to improve quality and health outcomes. She said Cigna is the only national health service company to provide 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week customer service and that the company is working to help customers find and use high quality, cost efficient care. For example, Cigna's new online quality and cost comparison tools were recently recognized by InformationWeek as being among the top ten technology innovations (http://newsroom.cigna.com/NewsReleases/Cigna-Named-Top-IT-Innovator-by-InformationWeek-500.htm) of 2012.NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS(TM)) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care.The rankings are based on the voluntary submission of health care quality results as measured through HEDIS(R), customer service scores based on customer surveys through Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS(R)) and participation in NCQA's accreditation program for health plans. More information on the rankings is available at www.ncqa.orgIn total, some 538 private health plans are included in the rankings; 474 of the 538 are given a numerical ranking by NCQA. The rankings included the PPO and Open Access Plus plans from Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company and Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in Colorado.

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