Mind-Body Connection

Committed to Whole Person Health

We are committed to helping improve emotional wellness for our members, as well as for the providers we work with. Strong resiliency and emotional health can help providers better accomplish daily tasks and stay balanced for life’s unplanned moments.

We’re here to support you—as providers and as people. The information and resources below are given to complement your patient interactions.

Behavioral Health Resources for Patients 

Sometimes, the best advice you can have for your patients—especially when talking about behavioral health—is that they should talk with an expert or specialist in that area. Cigna Healthcare^SM has a wide range of behavioral health resources that you can direct them to for more information.

Reimbursement

Your time is valuable. That’s why we have a Preventive Care Administrative Policy [PDF] that provides guidance on how to bill preventive care services and screenings, as well as the codes that represent these services. For the majority of your patients, these are all covered at 100% with no cost-share.²

Help Your Patients Avoid Surprise Bills

If a patient’s preventive visit reveals an illness or condition that needs immediate care—including treatment for stress, depression, or drug and alcohol dependence—you may bill for a routine office visit in addition to the preventive visit, as appropriate. However, if you do bill for a routine office visit in addition to the preventive visit, help your patients avoid “surprise” bills by informing them that they will most likely incur out-of-pocket expenses for the additional services.

Screening

Not all patients will be open about how they're feeling—physically and emotionally. They may not even be aware that something is wrong. That's why we encourage you to use these nationally published tools that can help you screen your patients for the presence of common behavioral health issues like depression or substance use. These tools can also be used to supplement the screening you may already be doing.

Resilience and Emotional Wellness

Research shows that resilience is closely linked to mental and physical health, stress, anxiety, self-worth, self-esteem, sense of belonging, academic and professional achievement, and several other factors that play a role in whole-person health.

We are here to help you take a well-rounded approach to improving emotional wellness—for yourself and for your patients.

To further our mission of building healthier communities, we commissioned the Cigna Resilience Index, in partnership with Michael Ungar, Ph.D., Professor of Social Work at Dalhousie University and Director of the Resilience Research Centre. Through this work, Cigna Healthcare has lead the largest study into the state of resilience in America.

From these insights, we have created a new framework to help people G.R.O.W. in the face of challenges and become more resilient:

G – Ground yourself in the situation. Write down your ideal outcome.

R – Recognize what you can control. Commit to one thing you can tackle today.

O – Organize the resources you need. Access expert resources.

W – Work with your community for support. Remember that asking for help is a sign of strength.

Hear from Our Experts:

Loneliness 

The loneliness epidemic is increasing–3 in 5 Americans (61%) are lonely in 2019, compared to 54% in 2018.⁴ Despite these significant numbers, it can be difficult to identify patients who are suffering from chronic loneliness, as the symptoms and signs can differ for each person. Chronic loneliness is an ongoing sense of isolation that some people feel, even when they are surrounded by people and seem otherwise happy.

To help assist your patients who may be suffering from loneliness, Cigna Healthcare created the loneliness hub, which offers innovative, whole-person solutions and resources to help combat the mental health crisis.

Visit the Cigna Healthcare loneliness hub

¹ Not available to all patients with Cigna Healthcare coverage.

² Eligible preventive care services are covered at 100% with no patient cost-share only when performed by a participating provider. Services performed by non-participating providers may not be covered at 100%. Additional services or treatments performed in the same office visits preventive services may incur out-of-pocket costs for your patients when billed separately. Certain codes may only be covered when provided at a separate encounter from the preventive care evaluation and management (E+M) office visit. Please refer to the policy for guidance on appropriate codes for reporting a preventive service.

³ Cigna Healthcare 360° Global Well–Being Survey, 2019, https://www.cignaglobal.com/blog/healthcare/2019-cigna-wellbeing-survey. Based on Cigna Healthcare 360° Global Well-Being Survey of 13,200 people across 23 markets: Australia, Benelux, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, and USA.

⁴ Cigna Healthcare U.S. Loneliness Index, Cigna Healthcare, Published January 2020