Cigna Ties Up With Houston Methodist To Provide Quality Care

Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) recently entered into a long-term deal with Houston Methodist, with which Cigna customers can get quality medical care at reasonable rates in Houston Methodist hospitals.

The collaboration is basically a value-based program aimed at improving the quality of care while cutting down on expenses for patients and their employers who spend through employer-sponsored health plans.

Notably, Cigna will now administer Houston Methodist's health plan for the hospital system's 26,000 employees via its third-party administrator business, Allegiance. Cigna, the nation’s fourth-largest health insurance company, has around 500,000 customers in Houston.

Houston Methodist chose to switch from UnitedHealthcare to Cigna following its prolonged cost dispute. This move will enable both Cigna and Houston Methodist to remain committed to providing better healthcare to communities.

Apart from strategic tie-ups, the company has been active on the acquisition front. Cigna’s priority is to focus on its healthcare-related core business, which expanded further after the purchase of Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX). The company intends to strengthen its Medicare business, which presents a huge business opportunity on the back of ever-increasing demand from the baby boomer population. It would even benefit consumers by bringing together medical care and pharmacy benefits under one roof to improve treatments and lower costs. We expect all these measures to bode well for the long haul and perk up the company’s share price further.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 13.2% in a year's time, outperforming its industry's increase of 9.4%. This stock price uptick looks impressive in comparison to the returns of Anthem, Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) ), Molina Healthcare, Inc (NYSE:MOH) and Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) , which have lost 7.3%, 4%, and 5.3%, respectively, over the same time frame. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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