Health-care plan provider Cigna Inc., with operations in Bloomfield, has been awarded a grant to study ways to improve the blood pressure health of African- and Hispanic-Americans, and other diverse populations.
Cigna and six other grantees were chosen from a pool of 111 proposals for improving health care involving a program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at the University of Chicago. Cigna says it was the only commercial health plan among the awardees.
The grants are part of a national program aimed at eliminating racial and ethnic health care disparities in local communities.
The project will be administered jointly between Cigna and Rand Corp., drawing on on Cigna’s broad clinical expertise and Rand’s extensive health care research design expertise, Cigna said.
The federal Centers for Disease Control estimates the direct and indirect cost of high blood pressure as of 2006 to be $63.5 billion. African-Americans have the highest rate of high blood pressure of all groups and tend to develop it at a younger age.
“High blood pressure is a significant health problem in the United States …” said Dr. Jeff Kang, Cigna’s chief medical officer. “The research Cigna is able to conduct as a result of this grant is extremely important because it will help us determine which strategies are most effective at helping people of all races and ethnicities improve their health.”
