Cigna CEO David Cordani said primary care is a key target for the insurer moving forward, but it's not necessarily coming at this market with an acquisition-focused approach.
He said during a session at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday that Cigna is instead looking to harness the dual possibilities of virtual care on a national scale and ownership on a more local scale as it makes sense.
"We don't believe we need to own it," Cordani said. "We are willing to own it in select geographies."
Vertical integration is the name of the game in the insurer market, and it's becoming increasingly common for payers to snap up provider groups or primary care practices, as owning the practices makes it easier to enable innovations like value-based care and interoperability.
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UnitedHealth Group, for example, is one of the largest employers of physicians in the country along with being the largest commercial health insurer. Humana has invested heavily in its senior-focused primary care clinics, and CVS Health, the parent company of Aetna, announced recently a pivot to a virtual and primary care focus along with the closure of hundreds of stores.
Cordani said Cigna is approaching primary care ownership in a "highly localized" way, focusing on regions where owning clinics or practices is the best way to ensure members can access the care they need.
In its broader approach, Cigna announced in October that it would launch a virtual-first health plan pilot that aims to address primary care gaps using services available from the recently acquired MDLive. The plan includes $0 copayments for care offered by MDLive's primary care providers, personalized care coordination and no referrals required for in-person care with network providers.
Cordani said building on that work is key to how Cigna is thinking about addressing primary care.
In addition, Cordani discussed another trend that's dominated the discussion at payer sessions so far during the conference: Medicare Advantage enrollment performance. Final numbers from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are expected in the coming weeks.
He said membership growth fell short of targets but that Cigna's position in the market is a work in progress. MA accounts for just 5% of the insurer's total revenue, and it has set aggressive goals for continuing to expand that reach.