Cigna's Evernorth subsidiary has been a central source of its growth over the past several quarters, and executives said Friday that the company is well-positioned with its clientele to continue building.
Evernorth, which launched in late 2020, consolidates a number of the insurer's health services offerings under one roof, and includes Express Scripts, Accredo speciality pharmacy, eviCore data analytics and MDLive. It has been a consistent source of growth for the company since its launch.
CEO David Cordani said on Cigna's earnings call Friday that it's first-quarter results highlight how Evernorth has "maintained momentum."
"The key driver of this performance is the way in which Evernorth is increasingly resonating with a wide range of buyers," Cordani said. "It's still early in the 2023 selling season, but we continue to see strong demand for Evernorth services among existing and new clients."
As Evernorth continues to grow, the company is aiming to find strategic benefits to aligning it with the health plan arm, Cigna Healthcare. Highlights at Evernorth for the quarter include the launch of a new consult service that aims to improve access to cutting edge cancer treatments and a long-term partnership with Kaiser Permanente.
Cigna wrapped up first-quarter earnings for major national insurers on Friday morning, when it reported $1.2 billion in profit.
The company also posted $44 billion in revenue for the quarter. Both figures surpassed Wall Street's expectations, according to Zacks Investment Research, and represent growth from the prior-year quarter, when the insurer reported nearly $1.2 billion in profit and $41 billion in revenue.
Cigna executives said the growth reflects strong performance in both earnings and revenue across its business lines.
"We've had a strong start to the year as we advance our growth strategy and support the health and well-being of our clients and customers," said David Cordani, chairman and CEO, in a statement. "We're taking decisive steps forward with innovation, new partnerships and re-investing in our company so we can achieve greater impact for the customers and communities we're privileged to serve."
The insurer boasted 190.4 million total customer relationships in the first quarter, including 107.4 million pharmacy benefit customers and 17.8 million health plan members.
Evernorth reported $33.6 billion in adjusted revenue for the quarter, up 10% from the $30.6 billion reported in the first quarter of 2021. The company said this reflects growth in specialty pharmacy as well as affordability improvements across its offerings.
Revenues at Cigna Healthcare, the company's health plan arm, were up 3% year over year, reaching $11.4 billion. Cigna reported $11.1 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2021.
The company expects earnings per share of at least $22.60 this year as well as at least $177 billion in revenue for full-year 2022.