Bloomfield insurer Cigna is asking medical practices to help lower customers’ opiod use by 25 percent within three years by signing a pledge to reduce opioid prescribing and to treat opioid-use disorder as a chronic condition.
So far, seven medical groups have signed on, according to the insurer.
Initially, the company is asking the large medical groups that participate in its Cigna Collaborative Care arrangements to adopt the Cigna pledge, which dovetails with the U.S. Surgeon General’s “Turn the Tide” pledge and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) opioid prescribing guidelines.
The 160 Cigna Collaborative Care medical groups, which collectively encompass more than 82,000 doctors, will also be asked to commit to taking a specific action to reduce opioid use while improving pain management and substance-use treatment where appropriate. Progress will be tracked as part of the quarterly reviews.
Dr. Dick Salmon, Cigna’s vice president and national medical executive for performance measurement and improvement, noted: “It’s not enough to just sign the pledge. We’re counting on these groups to commit to taking specific actions and we will discuss results as part of our ongoing quality reviews.”
Medical groups committing so far are:
- Cigna Medical Group; Phoenix
- New West Physicians; Denver
- Northwestern Medicine Physician Partners; Chicago
- Presence Health Partners; Chicago
- Privia Medical Group; Arlington, Va.
- Texas Children’s Pediatrics; Houston
- Wellmont Medical Associates; Kingsport, Tenn.
