Cigna to Partner with MDLIVE to Launch Virtual Primary Care Platform and Improve Patient Access

Cigna and MDLIVE Inc. have announced the launch of the telemedicine industry’s most complete virtual primary care program, allowing U.S. health plans, health systems, retailers and employers the ability to provide consumers with convenient, secure and cost-effective options for accessing preventive, chronic and other primary care services. With this partnership, Cigna has secured the ability to be the first to offer virtual care for preventive checkups, launching in the second quarter of 2020. MDLIVE also has partnerships with Humana and some Blue Cross Blue Shield groups, as well as Walgreens, first partnered with Cigna in 2014 to offer urgent care services through telehealth. Cigna and MDLIVE executives said the telehealth offerings aren’t designed to replace someone’s existing relationship with their primary care physician unless the employee chooses.

Virtual care enables Cigna to deliver convenient access to care and helps make health care more affordable, predictable and simple for our customers. Working together with MDLIVE, we are expanding virtual care to include primary care services, starting with wellness screenings.  — Julie McCarter, Vice President, Product Solutions, Cigna

Nearly 27 percent of U.S. adults on average, and as high as 45 percent of adults under the age of 39, say they do not have a primary care physician (PCP). With that, it takes an average of 24 days to schedule a first-time appointment with a physician — a 30 percent increase since 2014. The healthcare industry is beginning to reorganize around the needs of the patients. This new offering allows Cigna to give its 12 million members in employer-sponsored plans access to primary care services.

For MDLIVE, this builds on the high-quality urgent care, behavioral health, and dermatology care that it currently delivers to more than 36 million members throughout the U.S. The partnership is designed to make healthcare more consistent and employees can also use MDLive to supplement the care they are already getting.

The MDLIVE virtual primary care platform will help health plans and health systems shift from reactive care to proactive and predictive health management and care. — Rich Berner, Chief Executive Officer of MDLIVE

About MDLIVE Virtual Primary Care

With a vast network of designated virtual primary care physicians, MDLIVE VPC has a wide range of features and benefits, including:

• Relationships: Ongoing member relationships with an MDLIVE virtual primary care provider, allowing for more longitudinal and consistent patient care.
• Remote Monitoring: Self-tracking of vital signs and user-friendly programs involving health check-ins and reminders through Sophie Health Monitoring. This feature ensures the timely tracking of patient-generated data.
• Results (Order Entry): Easy to order labs for patients and providers, an all-inclusive wellness panel, automated results routed to the patient portal and some imaging orders. This feature supports the early diagnosis and monitoring of patient health status.
• Referral Management: A consult summary with hyperlink and contact information, referring the patient to specialists or other types of care when needed. This feature reduces patient leakage, decreases lead time and improves patient access to care.
• Annual Wellness Screenings: Annual wellness screenings or checkups that include health risk assessments, a review of biometrics and lab results, behavioral health assessments and discussion with a patient about any concerns he or she may have. This feature prevents the onset of disease through health promotion and early disease detection.

Financial terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed.