The past few years have brought greater awareness to cracks in the health care system, illuminated the importance of mental and emotional well-being to holistic health and vitality, and altered the ways in which we live, work, and receive health care. Meanwhile, technology continues to advance and play a larger role in health and care delivery, especially when it comes to leveraging diverse data sources and virtual care options. These changes have significant implications for the health of your employees and your business.

In response, Cigna Healthcare is creating more comprehensive and personalized health care experiences that improve health outcomes, reduce overall costs, and make the patient journey less arduous by connecting care touchpoints.

So, what exactly does personalized health care look like, and how can you stay ahead of the curve?

Data, analytics, and artificial intelligence will improve care coordination

Health care personalization requires integrating technology, data, and clinical expertise in decisive, actionable, and meaningful ways for individuals. Predictive analytics tools, for example, can help identify individuals with specific health risks, and identify opportunities for clinical engagement. For instance, Cigna Healthcare can use data to identify patients with diabetes who don’t take their medications as prescribed, and help them become more adherent.

Cigna Healthcare also uses data, analytics and artificial intelligence to connect with patients and providers earlier on in the breast cancer care process to take the burden off the customer’s shoulders and help navigate coverage and more affordable treatment options. When we do this outreach, driven by machine learning models, we found nearly 60% more patients take advantage of recommended clinical programs and specialized advice.

Clinical expertise, coupled with data and analytics, aids in designing plans that help mitigate risks and prevent disease, as well as treat disease with precision. Digital solutions connect data across the care continuum to empower individuals to make choices based on their personal preferences.

Virtual care and remote patient monitoring will help drive personalization

Virtual care and remote monitoring are additional ways technology is helping improve care. Virtual care gained immense traction since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, making it easier for patients – especially those with chronic conditions – to access care when and where they need it. Virtual care can be a good option for some conditions, and allows providers to engage patients in their real-life environments, giving them a good perspective on their physical, social, and emotional resources and barriers.

The majority of patients (60%) say that virtual care is more convenient that in-person care. Additionally, patients and clinicians report high satisfaction with the quality of communication and patient-centeredness of virtual care.

In addition to virtual care like telehealth, technology also brings renewed attention to preventive health care that drives further personalization. For example, smart diagnostic and remote monitoring tools can look at patient-specific needs and inform individualized care plans and lifestyle recommendations that keep conditions from developing or getting worse.

For example, last year, Cigna Healthcare rolled out a patient health monitoring program. through the MDLIVE virtual care platform for all customers who are enrolled in employer-sponsored plans. As part of the program, participating MDLIVE providers are able to identify the patients who could benefit from tracking and reporting their key biometrics such as blood pressure, weight, and glucose levels, giving patients and the providers that care for them better insights into their daily health. MDLIVE plans to expand the program later in the year with the integration of digital devices that can transmit patient data automatically to the MDLIVE patient portal, which we expect to be a game changer for virtual care.

Coupling virtual care with remote patient monitoring gives providers another layer of information to make informed decisions about their patient’s care. This combination of technologies also enables high-touch preventative and holistic care by providing treating practitioners with a complete view of the health and well-being of each patient.

Integrated health care will break down barriers

Too often, health care delivery is fragmented and data is siloed, leading to an inconsistent and/or non-personalized experience. Providers lack access to all the information they need to deliver personalized, coordinated care, and patients lack easy access to the right care at the right time.

To address these issues, Cigna Healthcare's integrated health care services go beyond merely bundling products. Our clinical teams utilize data and actionable insights to identify customer engagement opportunities while fostering provider collaboration.

By bringing together Cigna Healthcare's high-performing provider networks and medical benefits management with Evernorth's analytics, clinical expertise, and personalized digital support, we work relentlessly to coordinate and connect end-to-end health journeys for all.

This is playing out in how we’re addressing two of the biggest drivers of complicated patient experiences and health care spending: specialty drugs and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Centralized care platforms continuously scan diverse data sources and identify risks in near-real time. This enables providers to make more collaborative decisions for treatment. For example, an oncologist can order specialty infused or injected medications directly from a specialty pharmacy with knowledge of how such treatments might interact with medications a patient has been prescribed by another provider, such as a psychiatrist.

Meanwhile, dedicated care managers guide patients to convenient and affordable options through Cigna Healthcare's national network of quality providers, all enabled by a deep understanding of an individual’s needs and the treatment journeys that lead to the best results. This personalized support enables patients to make the best choices for themselves, too, such as how they want to receive MSK-related physical therapy from participating hospitals, specialty centers, physicians' offices, or, in some cases, at home in a virtual setting.

With integrated health services, products technology, and data we can help simplify and connect the complex, fragmented health care system by creating better, more personalized care pathways. The result? Lower total costs of care and better employee health.

Grow your people, grow your business

Meeting your workforce's diverse health and well-being needs allows you to enhance your employees' quality of life, improve productivity, control health care costs, and, ultimately, drive business growth. That's the future of health care. Cigna Healthcare can help you design a future-proof plan to grow your business by supporting the amazing employees who enable that growth.