Today, the Cigna Group joined leading health plans in a commitment to standardize electronic prior authorization submission requirements for commonly reviewed medical services. This effort is designed to streamline administrative workflows for providers and accelerate patients’ access to care.

By the end of this year, this standardized approach is expected to apply to medical services representing more than 70% of Cigna Healthcare’s prior authorization volume, with additional services added on a rolling basis.

This initiative advances our broader commitments to making care simpler and easier to navigate for patients and providers, and builds on recent actions to reduce administrative burden and speed up access to care – including a 15% reduction in the services that require prior authorization in 2025.

For more information, read the press release. We look forward to sharing additional information and details with you in the coming months as this work progresses.

June 23, 2025

Cigna Healthcare^® recognizes its responsibility to make the health care experience better for all those we serve, which is why earlier this year we announced an initiative to accelerate access to care and improve the patient and physician experience. We’ve made important progress in our work, and we’re proud to take another step in that journey by joining many of our health insurance peers in a series of commitments to simplify and reduce prior authorizations.

By collaborating with our peers and clinician partners, we will enhance our ability to connect patients to the care they need more swiftly, while also reducing administrative burdens on providers.

Through these commitments, which will be delivered in 2026 and 2027, we will:

• Standardize electronic prior authorization.
• Reduce the number of medical services subject to prior authorization.
• Ensure continuity of care when your patient enrolls in a Cigna Healthcare plan, honoring existing prior authorizations for 90 days.
• Enhance communication and transparency on prior authorization determinations.
• Expand real-time responses.
• Continue to ensure medical review of non-approved requests.

At the same time, we will continue the work underway to further innovate and evolve our approach to prior authorization to improve the overall experience for you and your patients.

As we continue to travel down this path together, we will also continue to look for opportunities to engage with providers for feedback. We look forward to sharing additional information and details with you in the coming months to keep you updated on our progress towards these goals.