Cigna: Corrected Updates to the 2024 Medicare Advantage Enrollment Guide

Cigna Agent Communication from 10/5/2023:

Corrected benefits and updated digital copies.

Please review this email before meeting with customers to ensure you are presenting the correct benefit information.

We discovered a few errors in the 2024 Cigna Healthcare Medicare Advantage Enrollment Guide.

What you need to know:

  • You do not need to order new sales kits. You can continue to use the guides that have been printed and distributed. We just need your help making sure the customer gets the correct benefit information.
  • Corrected copies of the Enrollment Guide have been posted to Producers’ University and CustomPoint. You can find the updated guide in Producers’ University by visiting the Resource Center.
  • To address the correct benefits, please follow the steps below.

How to get the correct benefit information

 

  1. Print and use these corrected pre-enrollment checklists.

These should replace the checklists in your printed guide.

NOTE: You must be logged in to Producers’ University directly or through CignaForBrokers single sign-on to access these documents.

 

2. Review the list of benefit corrections below.

Make sure your customer understands the benefits offered with their selected plan. The benefits listed below are not available with all plans.

Transportation: The benefit for routine, non-emergency transportation was listed as 60 miles instead of 70 miles. Prior authorization is required for trips exceeding 70 miles one-way.

In-home support: Our in-home support program provides a variety of helpful services and companionship virtually through a telephone, smart phone, or computer. This is a change from 2023.

 Services can include help coordinating transportation and meal/grocery delivery. Companionship includes virtual visits focused on social check-ins, games, even art classes and virtual museum tours.

 

  1. Update your training and customer/telephonic scripts with the corrected benefit information.

 

 

Thank you for your understanding. We appreciate your help, and we are sorry for the inconvenience.

Cigna: New Way To Submit Your HRA’s for 2024

The enhancements will make your selling experience easier than ever before.

Cigna’s Value Based Enrollment (VBE) initiative continues to be a successful and well-received program among Cigna Healthcare agents.

As part of this program, agents can earn $75 or $125 (depending on the plan) for facilitating Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) with their eligible customers, which means more money in their pocket!

New Way to Access HRAs

Cigna has heard your feedback and have worked to make HRA facilitation easier and faster than before.

Starting on September 29, 2023, you will be able to access Cigna Healthcare’s HRA in the following locations:

• SunFire or ConnectureDRX: HRA embedded in each program for agents that are fully integrated into the respective vendor platform.
• Cigna for Brokers: For non-SunFire users and/or non-Connecture agency partners – Use single sign-on to access SunFire HRA via the “Health Risk Assessment” link in the Tools section.
• eEnrollment: Embedded at the end of the customer enrollment process (i.e., via SunFire HRA widget – HRA will be embedded directly within eEnrollment).

 

Current HRA Tool – Icario

You can continue to use the Icario tool to facilitate HRAs with your customers until January 1, 2024. After this date, Icario will no longer be available to facilitate HRAs, but you will be able to use the new tools listed above – SunFire and ConnectureDRX.

What is a Health Risk Assessment (HRA)?

 

The Health Risk Assessment (HRA) is a tool that helps the health plan assess a customer’s needs by asking a series of health-related questions. Answers are used to partner with health care providers and to develop a plan of care.

 

Facilitating an HRA for your customers provides you an additional opportunity to engage with them and solidify your relationship. It also helps jump start the customer’s journey, engagement, and utilization of Cigna Healthcare’s services resulting in increased retention and improved outcomes for the customer.

 

If you facilitate an HRA for your customers, you are eligible to receive payment, which varies depending on the plan they enroll in.

 

What Medicare plan types are eligible for the VBE HRA payment?

 

The HRA payment will be made for new Medicare Advantage customers, and voluntary customer plan changes that result in active Cigna Healthcare customers.

 

Agents earn $125 when facilitating an HRA with D-SNP and C-SNP customers, and $75 for all other Cigna Healthcare MAPD customers.

 

Prerequisites and Requirements

To be authorized to facilitate the VBE HRA, you must:

• Complete VBE HRA training via Producers’ University. (VBE HRA training is no longer a separate or standalone course – we have embedded the content as a downloadable PDF in Our Compliance Program.)
• Qualify as ‘Ready to Sell’ to complete the enrollment application with the customer.

After you complete the VBE HRA training, you will receive access to Cigna Healthcare’s electronic HRA within 24-72 hours (if you are ‘Ready to Sell’).

Deadlines to Submit HRAs

You must facilitate the HRA with the customer and submit the completed HRA in the portal, within ten (10) calendar days of the customer’s application sign date, in order to ensure a positive customer experience.

As a best practice, you should obtain the HRA immediately after completing the customer’s application for enrollment. Otherwise, we recommend confirming your next appointment with the customer with the date and time details, prior to making the next outreach.

You’ll have until December 22, 2023 to submit the HRA for any customer applications taken from October 1 – December 7 of 2023.

Cigna’s MA Ohio Network is Growing

Sourced from Cigna broker blast from 7/3/23:

Cigna is constantly working to expand our network to meet the needs of our customers. Some exciting network expansions are happening in your area! Please see below to learn more.

We have recently added the following providers to our network in the Ohio market:

Ambulatory Surgery Center
• Cleveland East Vascular Care LLC

Cardiology
• The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
• Cardiologists of Greene County LLC
• Kettering Independent Medical Group
• Kettering Specialty Care INC

Clinical Social Worker
• The Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Colon & Rectal Surgery
• University Hospitals Medical Group INC

Family Medicine
• Alliance Physicians INC
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown Specialty Care LLC
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown LLC
• University Hospitals Medical Practices
• Cleveland Clinic Akron General Internal Medicine
• UH Chagrin Highlands Urgent Care

Gastroenterology
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown Specialty Care LLC
• Kettering Specialty Care INC

Hematology/Oncology
• The MetroHealth System

Internal Medicine
• The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
• MVHE INC
• Valley Medical Primary Care
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown LLC
• Dedicated Ohio Holding LLC
• St Vincent Charity Community Health Center

Long Term Acute Care Hospital
• Select Specialty Hospital – Cincinnati INC
• Select Specialty Hospital – Youngstown INC
• Select Specialty Hospital – Northeast Ohio INC Canton Campus

Neurology
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown Specialty Care LLC

Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Mercy Health Physicians North Specialty Care LLC
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown LLC
• University Hospitals Medical Practices

Occupational Medicine
• St Vincent Charity Community Health Center

Pain Management
• The Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Plastic Surgery
• Kettering Specialty Care INC

Podiatry
• Choice Podiatry Associates INC
• Gentle Footcare LLC
• Wound Care Consultants LLC
• Mary Rutan Hospital

Pulmonary Medicine
• Alliance Physicians INC
• Mercy Health Physicians Youngstown Specialty Care LLC

Radiation Oncology
• Kettering Specialty Care INC

Skilled Nursing Facility
• Highland Square Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
• Maple Gardens Rehabilitation and Nursing Center

Sleep Medicine
• The MetroHealth System

Sports Medicine
• University Hospitals Medical Group INC

Urology
• University Hospitals Medical Group INC

Vascular Surgery
• The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
• Premier Health Specialist INC

 

Questions? Please reach out to your CSM rep today!

Cigna’s Value Based Enrollment Program Changes

Sourced from Cigna broker email communication from 5/16/23:

Changes to VBE payments for digital applications starting with June 1 effectives.

At Cigna Healthcare, we believe that the Primary Care Provider (PCP) and patient relationship is of vital importance to drive better health outcomes and increase customer satisfaction and retention.

 

For this reason, we are making changes in how payments are earned through our Value Based Enrollment (VBE) digital application program to further promote the PCP and patient relationship and continue to encourage the collection of a customer email address. This change applies to June 1 effectives and beyond.

 

New VBE payment amounts

Here’s how you can continue to earn up to $50 per approved digital application for new Cigna Healthcare Medicare Advantage (MA) customers:

• Earn $30 for including a valid in-network PCP on the digital application.
• Earn $20 for including a valid customer email address on the digital application.

 

For more information on this change to our VBE program, please feel free to review our VBE Program Broker FAQ after logging in to Producers’ University.

Benefits of this program change

Capturing a customer’s valid PCP and email address at the time of enrollment gives Cigna Healthcare Medicare important information to provide better care for your customers.

Better care results in higher customer satisfaction and retention rates, as well as higher net promoter scores (NPS). This means you can spend more time selling and growing your business and less time addressing customer concerns.

Cigna’s New Icario Agent Portal – Important Tips

Sourced from Cigna Broker communication from 10/24/22:

Read below for tips to facilitate your transition to the new portal

On October 12, Cigna launched the new and improved Icario Connect Agent Portal. This new agent portal includes features that make it easier for you to facilitate health risk assessments (HRAs) with your customers. 

As part of the transition to the new portal, all existing agents should have received a Welcome Email from Icario inviting them to create new login credentials. We are happy that many agents have been able to transition to the new agent portal smoothly.

 For those of you who have still not activated your new agent portal, we have put together some helpful tips and resources to help you along the way. 

Registration Issues

 Agents who have not registered in the new Icario agent portal will receive daily emails from Icario with their new username and password. If you have not received the email, please check your spam folder or follow the steps below:

 

  1. Email Icario directly at service@Icariohealth.com.
  2. Call our Cigna Agent Resource Line (CARL) at 866-442-7516

 

Password Issues

 If you are experiencing any issues with your new password (e.g., new password is not working), please follow the steps below. 

  1. Reply to the Icario Welcome Email informing Icario that your new password is not working. Icario will reach out directly to assist you.
  2. Email Icario directly at service@Icariohealth.com.
  3. Call our Cigna Agent Resource Line (CARL) at 866-442-7516

 

Other Technical Issues

 If you are still experiencing technical difficulties after following the steps above, please try the following:

  • Clear the cache in your browser.
  • Disable your pop-up blocker.
  • Check your spam folder for emails from Icario.
  • Type in your new username and password to ensure accuracy (do not copy and paste from the Icario Welcome Email).
  • Use capital letters when entering the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) on the Prospective Member screen (e.g., 1AC2-D34-EF56)

 

One more thing… Great News!  The deadline to submit your HRAs has been extended! Agents now have until 12/21/2022 to submit the HRA for any customer applications taken from 10/1/2022 – 12/7/2022.

Quote and Compare Cigna plans in MedicareCENTER

If you’re newly appointed with CignaHealthspring and working in MedicareCENTER to quote and compare carrier plans and products, this is news for you!

 

Cigna activates your appointment once your first application is submitted.  This means Cigna products will not initially appear in MedicareCENTER if you have not yet written an application. This affects your ability to quote and compare Cigna products.  To launch Cigna in MedicareCENTER in order to quote and compare, access and enable Cigna from the non-licensed plans option.

 

NOTE:  Active, licensed status to quote and ENROLL Cigna products from MedicareCENTER will be available upon submission of your first enrollment, which must be submitted to Cigna either via paper app or from the Cigna portal.

 

Questions about Cigna?  We can help – give us a call at 614-763-2255

Cigna Pharmacy Update: An update on Kroger and its affiliated pharmacies

Sourced from Cigna Broker Communication from 10/14/22:

Kroger and its affiliated pharmacies recently notified Cigna that they would not participate in Cigna’s Medicare Advantage (MAPD) and Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) network, effective January 1, 2023. Please note, 2022 is not impacted.

We understand that the annual enrollment period (AEP) begins tomorrow and the timing of this announcement is less than ideal. However, we were only recently notified of the contract change with Kroger for 2023 and we felt it was important to share this information with you and your brokers regardless of the pre-AEP timing. We’ve sent communications to brokers licensed within each impacted market that includes the name(s) of the Kroger pharmacy or affiliate impacted by this change. Attached is a complete list of Kroger Pharmacy Affiliates for your reference.

As you can imagine, our AEP materials were prepared well in advance. We are diligently working to update the CMS Plan Finder, sales kits, Cigna’s online provider directory, and other online tools. In fact, updates to the online tools will be made by October 24.

We are doing everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible for our customers. While we understand the disruption, Cigna Medicare has more than 63,000 network pharmacies available nationwide, which are listed in our online provider directory. Here are a few other large pharmacy chains that continue to be available to our customers:
• Walgreens
• Walmart
• Publix
• Rite Aid
• Winn-Dixie

Mail order is also available, delivering prescriptions right to customers’ mailboxes.

To provide you some insight into our member outreach strategy, beginning November 1, we will notify customers who have used a Kroger pharmacy in the past six months that Kroger and its affiliated pharmacies are terminating. In addition to the letter, we will actively engage customers through proactive, outbound calls to help them find an in-network pharmacy nearby. Our customer service team is also prepared to offer customers convenient alternative pharmacies for them to use

 

VIEW THE Affiliated pharmacies owned and operated by Kroger HERE

Exciting Updates to CignaforBrokers Portal

Exciting updates coming to CignaforBrokers on September 15! 

Cigna is so excited to share the new and exciting improvements to their Cigna Broker Portal, CignaforBrokers.com, coming soon! 

Cigna has heard your feedback and continue to improve tools to make your selling experience easier! Starting September 15, you’ll see a new landing page and streamlined design across all Cigna lines of business. Here’s what else you can expect when you log in to CignaforBrokers.com starting on September 15:

  • Alerts for incomplete applications which require your attention
  • New easy access via direct links to your membership book of business and application status reports
  • New message panel to share important information that you need to know
  • News alert features under My Messages informing you of your ready-to-sell states, expiring licenses, or missing state appointments

Be on the lookout for even more improvements coming soon to CignaforBrokers including direct access to your MA Commission statements and State Medicaid look-up capabilities.

 

If you have any questions regarding Cigna’s portal, please reach out to your CSM Service Rep.

Cigna’s HRA Update: Brokers Must Attend Training to be Eligible for HRA Payments

Sourced from Cigna’s Broker Email Communication on 10/25/21:

Cigna Medicare Advantage will pay external agents $75 for each completed HRA they submit, starting with Jan. 1, 2022 effective dates. To be eligible, brokers must complete HRA training available on Producers’ University.

As announced a few weeks ago, external brokers will be able to earn $75 for each online health risk assessment (HRA) they complete for our Cigna Medicare Advantage (MA) customers with effective dates on or after January 1, 2022.*

To be eligible, brokers must be licensed, appointed, and certified to sell Cigna MA plans and complete the HRA training. As of today, less than 10 percent of brokers have taken the training. Cigna encourages all their agents to complete the training soon so they can receive payment for completing the HRAs.

The HRA survey tool is expected to be available in mid-November.

Broker Communication Timeline
We are still working through some of the operational aspects of this new initiative and will provide more details about the payment process and online HRA survey tool over the next few weeks. Here is the anticipated communication schedule:

10/26 Reminder to complete training

11/02 Payment details will be shared (i.e., timing, process)

11/09 Instructions for accessing the HRA survey tool, including the date it is available and that the link will be sent from the vendor

 

Questions? Contact your Cornerstone Senior Marketing Representative. 

Cigna’s Agent of Record Reminder

Cigna Broker Communication from 10/15/21: 

 

We appreciate that you choose to be part of Team Cigna! There’s no question it takes a significant amount of work to build your business, and that’s something you should be proud of. In advance of AEP, we want to let you know that we are committed to protecting your Agent of Record status as well as the commissions you’ve earned for the customers you’ve enrolled.

 

At Cigna:

  • We understand that sometimes existing customers need to change plans.
  • We would prefer that they remain with Cigna.
  • We want to reduce the work associated with plan changes and free your time to focus on servicing and growing your book of business.

We want you to trust that we will protect your interests and that we value you and your current relationship with the customers you’ve enrolled.

 

Our commitment to you

When an internal Cigna agent completes a plan change for one of your existing Medicare Advantage customers, you will remain the Agent of Record (AOR) and continue to receive renewal commissions on plan changes.

How will we do this?

Cigna has established a Dedicated Plan Change unit within the CARL team that exists solely to help existing customers transition from one plan to another. This unit is staffed by licensed service representatives, not Sales Agents.

• When an existing customer makes a plan change by calling our Dedicated Plan Change line directly, your AOR status will remain unchanged.
• When an existing customer calls customer service inquiring about a plan change, the customer service representative will transfer the customer to our Dedicated Plan Change line and your AOR status will remain unchanged.
• When an existing customer initiates a plan change through one of Cigna’s internal field sales or telesales agents our team member will either refer the customer to our Dedicated Plan Change line or complete the plan change themselves. In either case, your AOR status will remain unchanged.

The Agent of Record policy applies to:

• Active, licensed, appointed and 2022 certified agents at the time of the customer’s plan change

The Agency of Record policy does not apply when:

• The original agent is no longer eligible or terminated
• Another active, licensed, appointed and 2022 certified, external agent (not employed by Cigna) facilitates the plan change
• The plan change is facilitated through an external Cigna appointed call center agent/agency

The plan change process

As an agent, you still have the option to fill out a new application to submit for current customers.

 Customers can call 1-855-649-5105 to connect to the dedicated Plan Change Queue.