INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS
Continued from page 15
Cigna to Offer Tool to Estimate Cost of Care
This spring, CIGNA plans to launch its Cost of Care
Estimator, a new technology that will inform patients
and health care professionals of the total cost to be
charged for medical services based on the individual’s
specific CIGNA health plan. The estimator’s real-time
cost estimates detail portions of the bill to be paid by the
CIGNA health plan and by the covered individual’s
sources of liability, whether that is out-of-pocket costs
due to co-insurance or copays or an FSA, HRA and HSA.
By providing itemized cost estimates and explaining the sources of
payment, based on the individual’s
specific plan, the CIGNA Cost of
Care Estimator will help people understand their benefits and how
much they owe for specific services.
It will also serve as the basis of pre-care financial discussions in order to
help avoid after-the-fact financial
surprises.
The CIGNA Estimator facilitates
an up-front financial discussion that
allows for payment arrangements,
account contributions to pay for
services in the future, and discussions around treatment options. The
estimator is designed to be available
for all medical services, including
high-cost procedures.
Health care professionals can
quickly obtain estimates using their
existing desktop technology, so medical practices and hospitals need not
invest in new technologies to use the
CIGNA Estimator tool.
The itemized cost estimate is generated by the proprietary Thomson
Reuter treatment cost calculation
tool and backed by its analytic and
predictive modeling expertise. For
more information, visit
www.CIGNA.com.
Pacific Life Expands Variable
Investment Options
Pacific Life recently added two investment options to its offerings for
variable universal life insurance policy owners. The addition of the Mid-Cap Value Portfolio and the
American Funds Asset Allocation
Portfolio expands the breadth of the
investment options lineup; variable
