The Cigna Group’s CI Evernorth Health Services recently announced an innovative measurement-based care program to improve behavioral health outcomes. This will help it deliver better care to its provider network with active collaboration and create better, meaningful, and standard metrics for behavioral healthcare.
This move bodes well for Evernorth as it would improve health outcomes of patients in the provider network and help with client retention. Evernorth Health Services segment aims to bring value or measurement-based care to behavioral health, which has existed for a long time in physical health. As providers and payers continue their journey toward value-based care, programs to improve the quality of care and reduce administrative costs should poise Cigna’s Evernorth well for growth. The company expects the Evernorth Health Services segment to report adjusted operating income on a pretax basis of a minimum of $6.4 billion in 2023.
Through this initiative, Evernorth will strengthen its interventions with patients and improve its relationship with providers. A lack of consistent and repeatable measures marks this program as a time opportune one, as this would reduce administrative work and ensure trust from providers. This new program aims to align the measurement of treatments, improving quality of care while reducing costs. Collaborating with providers and establishing measurement touchpoints would benefit patients and clients as well as solidify Evernorth’s core value proposition.
Evernorth will work with 44,000 providers, including behavioral health coaches, therapists etc, and build on its existing metrics, like the time taken for a patient to get an appointment, to ensure high-quality care is provided. Tracking such information will aid providers in focusing on patient care and improve outcomes for patients and providers. Shared metrics can be used by providers and payers to get insights into a patient’s journey and improve the value-based care provided.
Shares of Cigna have gained 8.7% in the past six months compared with the industry’s 1.4% growth. CI currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the medical space are Select Medical Holdings Corporation SEM, HCA Healthcare, Inc. HCA and Atai Life Sciences N.V. ATAI. While Select Medical sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), HCA Healthcare and Atai Life Sciences carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Select Medical’s 2023 earnings indicates a 56.9% year-over-year increase to $1.93 per share. It has witnessed one upward estimate revision in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. The consensus mark for SEM’s 2023 revenues indicates 4.2% growth from a year ago.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HCA Healthcare’s 2023 bottom line suggests a 9.4% increase from the prior-year levels. HCA has witnessed one upward estimate revision in the past week against none in the opposite direction. It beat earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed once, with the average surprise being 5.4%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Atai Life Sciences’ current-year earnings implies a 16.3% improvement from the year-ago reported figure. It has witnessed four upward estimate revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. ATAI beat earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters, met once and missed on one occasion.
Cigna Group (CI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
HCA Healthcare, Inc. (HCA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Select Medical Holdings Corporation (SEM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
atai Life Sciences N.V. (ATAI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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