Health insurer Cigna is launching a mobile app to connect members to its Healthy Pregnancies and Healthy Babies prenatal program.
Tests of the app have demonstrated good outcomes for pregnant women and their children, improving the likelihood of full-term pregnancies while increasing the affordability of services for families and Cigna. The company estimates about $2,000 in average savings per patient and nearly $43,000 in savings per patient identified as at-risk for preterm delivery, based on 2016 data, according to the insurer.
The new app is designed to make it easier to enroll and engage in the Healthy Babies program, says Patricia Stephenson, MD, senior medical director at Cigna. “The app delivers convenient personalized guidance, giving expectant moms and dads information to help them make important health decisions in real time.”
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The app also helps expecting families to optimize their health benefits and connect to additional resources, such as issuing health alerts and reminders, finding a healthcare provider, assessing costs, accessing maternity coaching and using tools to assess quality of care.
The core goal is to reduce the number of pregnancies that result in preterm and low birth rate infants through early risk identification, treatment coordination, preventive care and adoption of a healthy lifestyle.
Consequently, additional services via the app include health assessment survey answers sent to Cigna maternity coaches to use as outreach to expectant mothers; employer-specific program incentives to help pregnant employees remain engaged; personalized content with milestones based on the expected due date; and encouraging conversations with providers about predictors of preterm birth.
The app, which Cigna helped build with mobile health app developer Wildflower Health, will be available in January.
