CIGNA HealthCare And VITAS Innovative Hospice Care Enter Into A National Agreement
Miami, FL - VITAS Innovative Hospice Care and CIGNA HealthCare have signed a national agreement to ensure access to quality hospice services for CIGNA's 5.1 million members who reside in major metro markets in the 16 states served by VITAS.
"As a hospice pioneer and innovator, VITAS has always been a leader in expanding access to hospice services nationwide," noted Tim O'Toole, CEO of VITAS Innovative Hospice Care. "Partnering with CIGNA, one of America's leading and most respected health service organizations, will ensure that VITAS can continue to meet the ever-increasing demand for quality, compassionate, responsive end-of-life care from those who seek to maximize quality of life when they have a limited time left to live."
"How we care for people as they approach the end of their life is every bit as important as how we care for them throughout their lifetime," said David Ferriss, M.D., national medical officer for CIGNA HealthCare. "That's why it's so important to find a hospice partner like VITAS that can provide dignified and compassionate end-of-life care to people covered by a CIGNA health plan."
VITAS provides quality, compassionate end-of-life care for adult and pediatric patients with a wide range of life-limiting illnesses, including but not limited to cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and AIDS.
CIGNA members will receive the full range of hospice services through VITAS. The coverage includes all prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, medical equipment and supplies required to treat the patient's life-limiting illness. All four levels of hospice care -- routine home care, Intensive Comfort Care(SM) (called Continuous Care by Medicare), General Inpatient Care and Respite Care -- are covered. VITAS also provides a full range of bereavement support, including grief and loss programs, support groups and memorial services, for patients and their families.
About Hospice Care
Because hospice is not a "place" as many believe, VITAS caregivers make visits throughout the community to care for patients in their own home, in nursing homes, and in assisted living communities. Hospice is provided in the home to better provide comfort, pain control and symptom management for a patient at the end of life. In fact, recent research published by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization found that most Americans would prefer to receive end-of-life care at home and think hospice professionals are the most knowledgeable in helping them do so.
SOURCE: VITAS Innovative Hospice Care