Health payer Cigna is growing its telehealth offerings for members, adding services by American Well to member benefits. The offerings will be a standard benefit for Cigna's U.S. employer-sponsored group health plans and many individual health plans, as permitted by state regulations.
Cigna currently offers telehealth services through telehealth provider MDLIVE, a partnership that began in 2013.
Starting next year, the telehealth services offered will include behavioral health. "We…know about the difficulty some Americans have accessing a behavioral health professional, especially in rural areas. Enabling access to our behavioral healthcare professional networks via telehealth provides an innovative solution to this accessibility challenge," Robert Wijnhoven, Cigna's telehealth lead, said in a statement.
More articles on telehealth:
University of Texas Medical Branch taps Texas Medical Board executive director Mari Robinson to lead telehealth efforts
American Well adds psychiatry services to Amwell app
Connecting patients to 'the essence of healthcare:' 8 questions with American Well CEO Dr. Roy Schoenberg