EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., April 10, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CIGNA Behavioral Health (CBH) today released new data on the results of the company's Intensive Care Management (ICM) program, demonstrating improved member outcomes that resulted in average savings of more than $3,000 per member. CBH's intensive care management program pairs members experiencing complex clinical behavioral conditions, such as severe depression, with a clinical "care advocate" following an initial inpatient visit. The central goal of the program is to empower members to take preventive action before a condition escalates to a higher-risk situation, which could otherwise lead to overall decreases in productivity, missed work days or even disability. The study found ICM program participants experienced: -- a 53 percent decrease in inpatient admissions, -- a 14 percent increase in medication compliance, and -- a savings of $3,134 during the program enrollment. To conduct the study, CBH analyzed one full year of medical, behavioral and pharmacy utilization data for all clients. The population evaluated had a primary behavioral diagnosis with underlying medical co-morbidities and a minimum of one inpatient psychiatric admission. A study group of 286 participants enrolled in the ICM program were compared with 517 members of a control group not enrolled in the program. The study group participants were managed by a personal care advocate, who maintained daily or weekly contact and who made outreach calls to both the member's behavioral and medical doctors to ensure coordination of medications. The care advocate also confirmed appointment participation, provided ongoing education to both the participant and their family members, and screened for enhanced symptoms and stressors and contacted the member's provider anytime the member needed a higher level of care. The company called the results significant, noting that chronic medical conditions are often the cause of employee absenteeism with mental illness causing more missed work days than many other chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma and arthritis. Mental illness and substance abuse disorders are the top five causes of disability among people age 15-44 in the U.S. and Canada.(1) "The intensive care management program was developed to assure that we were doing everything possible to improve the lives of our members by carrying our philosophy of care advocacy beyond traditional utilization review," said Jodi Aronson Prohofsky, Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations. "Through this program we now know that with targeted intervention, we can increase productivity, decrease absenteeism and reduce overall health care costs. About CIGNA Behavioral Health CIGNA Behavioral Health provides behavioral care benefit management, EAPs, and work/life programs to consumers through health plans offered by large U.S. employers, national and regional HMOs, Taft-Hartley trusts and disability insurers. CBH, with headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn., operates care management centers around the U.S. in support of a national network of more than 56,800 independent psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers and more than 5,100 facilities and clinics. For more information, visit http://www.cignabehavioral.com/. (1) An Employers Guide, Behavioral Health Services, National Business Group on Health DATASOURCE: CIGNA Behavioral Health CONTACT: Arlys Stadum of CIGNA Behavioral Health, +1-763-559-5587, Web site: http://www.cigna.com/ http://www.cignabehavioral.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/165050.html

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