Keeping You Informed: Mental Health Parity Law

We are in the process of updating our plans to ensure compliance with the "Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Act of 2008," scheduled to go into effect on October 3, 2009. The law requires mental health and substance abuse to have "true parity" with other medical and surgical benefits provided under the plan. The law prohibits financial requirements (e.g., deductibles, co-payments, coinsurance) or treatment limitations for mental health or substance use disorder benefits that are more restrictive than the predominant financial requirements or treatment limitations applied to substantially all medical or surgical benefits. This act also prohibits cost-sharing requirements for employees or treatment limitations that apply only to mental health and substance use disorder benefits.

However, it does not mandate that health plans provide mental health or substance use disorder benefits. These requirements apply to U.S. based fully-insured and self-insured plans (both ERISA and non-ERISA), and are applicable to large employers groups (i.e., 51 or more employees).

Plan design changes may be required to be compliant, but we have determined that there will be no impact to rates. Contact your sales representative with further questions.

CIGNA International Team Introduces Provider Portal and Conducts Usability Testing in Hong Kong and Singapore

Quality HealthCare Medical Services (QHMS) of Hong Kong and ParkwayHealth and its administration unit, iXchange, of Singapore became the first medical management companies to access CIGNA Envoy^®, CIGNA International's secure web portal for health care professionals around the world. CIGNA Envoy, www.CIGNAenvoy.com, offers advanced web tools that make it easier for doctors, hospitals, and clinics to serve expatriate patients. The website eliminates the need to call CIGNA International to verify a patient's coverage, with all information available instantly through a secure website. 'Normally it takes time to call and obtain the patient's information, but the new website will cut that waiting time down to three to five minutes. We can help patients quickly and check back whenever we need to,' said Benjamin Ng, QHMS Customer Service Representative.

CIGNA also conducted multiple usability studies with QHMS and ParkwayHealth and requested feedback so that future enhancements to the web portal will further simplify the process for medical professionals who treat expatriates with CIGNA coverage.

'Usability studies allow us to learn what we've done well, and what needs to be improved. We have expert web designers, but nothing substitutes for first-hand user feedback. Observing our customers use the website allows us to make sure the design truly meets their needs,' Customer Experience Architect for CIGNA HealthCare, Jason Poriss, said.

'The website helps us to do our jobs faster since you can just see the coverage details online, over the phone it's not always very clear, it's better this way so we can see it directly,' said Constance Leng, Manager of iXchange.

CIGNA Envoy eases management of patient relationships through access to real-time benefits information. 'This technological development is significant as we are among the first global health companies to bring a tool like this to those who provide care around the world,' said Glenn Maykish, Vice President of Sales and Client Management for CIGNA International.

"We value our relationship with our contracted health care facilities and offer as many tools as possible to make their relationship with us as beneficial as possible," said Cindy Gatanis, who leads contracting for CIGNA International.

The portal is available to high-volume health care facilities contracted with CIGNA International.

'As a thought leader in applied technologies, we developed CIGNA Envoy to centralize customer service functions in one place. It offers coverage details and plan benefits that enable doctors and hospitals to quickly accommodate patients while delivering more accurate payment information,' Joe Lapierre, Global Web Manager, said.

DISCLAIMER: 'CIGNA' refers to any one of the underwriting companies owned directly or indirectly by CIGNA Corporation and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Products and services are provided by these subsidiaries, affiliates and other contracted companies and not by CIGNA Corporation. 'CIGNA' is a registered service mark. 'CIGNA International,' 'CIGNA International HealthCare Benefits,' and 'CIGNA International Expatriate Benefits' are also service marks. Any reference to other organizations or companies and/or their products or services, including their Internet sites, is not an endorsement or warranty of the services, information, or products provided by them, nor should a reference to other organizations be construed as their endorsement or warranty of CIEB's products or services. All trademarks (registered and unregistered) and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

CIEB's web-based tools, such as CIGNA Envoy^®, are available for informational purposes only. They do not constitute medical advice. CIEB's web tools are not intended to be a substitute for proper medical care provided by a physician and not intended as a means for self-diagnosis. CIGNA Envoy is a service mark of CIGNA Corporation.

This material is being provided for informational purposes only and should not be relief upon as legal advice. As always, we recommend that you consult with your independent legal and tax advisors.

Copyright 2009.