April 20, 2022 – Evernorth, Cigna Corporation’s health services business, and Kaiser Permanente announced a new, five-year collaboration aimed at delivering increased convenience, affordability and expanded access to high-quality care for Kaiser Permanente members.
“Evernorth and Kaiser Permanente share a passion for improving health care in the U.S., with a focus on affordable, high-quality care for their members and the communities they serve,” said Eric Palmer, president and CEO of Evernorth. “Together, we have the opportunity to unlock meaningful savings, while ensuring patients have expanded access to best-in-class providers and treatments.”
Initially, the agreement will focus on bringing greater convenience, affordability and access to Kaiser Permanente and its members in two areas: 1) access to Cigna’s PPO provider network for Kaiser Permanente members who need urgent or emergency care and are traveling outside of Kaiser Permanente’s service areas, and 2) specialty pharmacy services. The collaboration has the potential to extend in additional areas during the course of the agreement.
Beginning in August, Kaiser Permanente commercial HMO and exclusive provider organization (EPO) members who need urgent care when they are traveling outside of areas served by Kaiser Permanente will have access to Cigna’s national PPO network of more than one million physicians and other providers. This will significantly expand Kaiser Permanente’s ability to provide more affordable and convenient access to valuable, high-quality health care and services for current and future members.
“We are excited to work with Evernorth to offer our members convenient, expanded access to high-quality care when they are traveling, through Cigna’s provider network,” said Arthur M. Southam, M.D., executive vice president of health plan operations and chief growth officer for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and Hospitals. “This will provide our members with an improved experience, added convenience, and greater confidence that if they get sick or are injured while traveling, they will have access to great care.”
In the area of specialty pharmacy services, the agreement seeks to deliver overall value and savings to Kaiser Permanente and its commercial plan members. Accredo, Evernorth’s specialty pharmacy, will become Kaiser Permanente’s preferred external pharmacy for limited distribution drugs, and Evernorth’s CuraScript SD will be a preferred distributor for purchasing certain other specialty products.