Explore your options
There are few healthcare decisions more important than choosing the hospital where you’ll receive care. But how do you make that decision? Cigna and Anthem have both developed programs that can help guide you in making the right decision for the procedure you need. They use third-party data to examine both treatment outcomes and costs. The hospitals that rank the highest on these measures receive designations as Centers of Excellence (Cigna) or Blue Distinction Centers (Anthem). Choosing one of these hospitals for your care should help you feel confident that you will be getting excellent care that is also cost-efficient.
Cigna Centers of Excellence (COE) Program:
Every year Cigna evaluates both patient outcomes and cost of care information for 31 common inpatient conditions and procedures, including bariatric surgery, knee/hip replacement, cardiac care, back surgery, organ transplants, C-sections, cancer treatment, infertility treatment and more. Hospitals that achieve at least five out of six stars receive the Cigna Centers of Excellence designation for a specific procedure or medical condition.
Visit myCigna.com for more information, or call the customer service number at 1-800-842-4221.
Anthem: Blue Distinction Centers and Blue Distinction Centers+
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies offer two quality designations: Blue Distinction Centers are hospitals recognized for their expertise in delivering specialty care with such procedures as bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee/hip replacement, spine surgery, and transplants. Blue Distinction Centers+ are hospitals recognized for both their expertise and efficiency in delivering specialty care. Currently these centers offer spinal surgery and knee/hip replacement, and they are expanding into additional specialty areas.
To learn more about this program or the selection criteria used to evaluate hospitals, visit www.anthem.com or call the customer service number at 1-877-898-0747.
Source: Cigna, BlueCross BlueShield Association