Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication
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THE CIGNA GROUP
Cigna Group’s Multi-Year Systemic Patient
Experience and Digital Care Navigation
Action Plan
Strategic Execution Framework • 2025–2028
EXECUTIVE FOUNDATION
The Cigna Group is executing a multi-year effort to improve how customers and patients access care, understand benefits, navigate clinical
journeys, and resolve healthcare-service issues. The strategy brings together Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth capabilities around a
common objective: make healthcare easier to access, easier to understand, and more responsive while preserving clinical and financial
discipline.
A defining feature of the program is its combination of
systemic policy changes and human support
. Rather than relying only on digital
self-service, Cigna has reduced selected prior-authorization requirements, expanded specialized advocate support, improved digital tools
and provider workflows, and established public transparency reporting to make progress measurable.
CUSTOMER-ACCESS ENGINE
Cigna reported that it removed prior-authorization requirements for
345 tests, procedures and services
, reducing medical
prior-authorization volume by approximately 15%. The company also reported approximately 155,000 customers receiving support from
specialized advocate teams in 2025, a 79% increase from 2024.
DIGITAL NAVIGATION ENGINE
Digital capabilities across Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth are being used to simplify benefit information, care discovery,
prior-authorization workflows, provider interactions and customer support. The action framework treats digital navigation as a complement
to clinical expertise rather than a replacement for human judgment.
TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY ENGINE
Cigna’s first Customer Transparency Report provides a public mechanism for measuring customer-experience commitments and progress.
The broader strategy also incorporates governance and leadership accountability around customer outcomes.
2026 OPERATING CONTEXT
The latest Q2 2026 results reported approximately
$71.7 billion in quarterly revenue
, up 7% year over year, and management raised
full-year 2026 adjusted income-from-operations guidance to at least
$30.45 per share
. These financial results provide the current
operating context for the customer-experience and digital-transformation program.
345
≈
15%
155K
$71.7B
services with PA
requirements removed
medical PA-volume
reduction
customers supported by
specialized advocates in 2025
Q2 2026
revenue
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE
Create a more transparent, lower-friction healthcare experience by combining authorization simplification, specialized human advocacy,
digital navigation, provider connectivity, affordability initiatives and measurable customer accountability.
INTEGRITY NOTE:
This is a research-based synthesized Action Plan. It is not an official Cigna Group publication and does not imply company endorsement.
Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication
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1. Strategic Priorities & Current-State Baseline
Easier Access to Care
Reduce unnecessary administrative friction and improve the speed, clarity and predictability of care-access processes.
Better Customer & Patient Support
Expand specialized human advocacy for complex journeys, particularly where clinical, benefits and logistical decisions intersect.
Digital Care Navigation
Strengthen myCigna and Evernorth digital capabilities so customers can find providers, understand benefits, track requests and navigate
next steps more easily.
Provider Workflow Modernization
Increase electronic and integrated workflows for prior authorization and provider interactions, reducing repetitive data entry and avoidable
errors.
Transparency
Use recurring public reporting to measure progress against customer-experience commitments and make performance visible to
stakeholders.
Affordability & Value
Use pharmacy, medical and care-management capabilities to improve value while maintaining appropriate clinical controls.
Governance & Accountability
Connect customer outcomes to executive and operating reviews so experience improvements remain a sustained enterprise priority.
2. Verified Current-State Baseline
Area
Latest verified evidence
Planning implication
Prior authorization
345 services had PA requirements removed; ~15% reduction in medical PA volume
Continue evidence-based removal and simplify remaining pathways
Specialized advocacy
~155,000 customers supported in 2025; +79% YoY
Scale high-touch support for complex journeys
Transparency
First Customer Transparency Report published in 2026
Create recurring scorecard and accountability cycle
Digital experience
Digital tools support benefit, provider, care and authorization journeys
Prioritize task completion over simply increasing digital features
Q2 2026 financial context
Revenue ~$71.7B; +7% YoY; 2026 adjusted income guidance
≥
$30.45/share
Fund transformation while maintaining financial discipline
Leadership transition
Brian Evanko succeeds David Cordani as CEO in 2026
Embed continuity of customer strategy through leadership transition
Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication
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3. Comprehensive Execution Framework
A. Prior-Authorization Simplification
Establish a clinical review cadence to identify low-value or administratively burdensome authorization requirements. Remove requirements
when evidence supports doing so, while preserving safeguards for high-risk services.
B. Digital Status & Self-Service
Improve member visibility into authorization status, required information, next steps and expected resolution. Design every screen around a
clear task and escalation path.
C. Provider Portal & EMR Connectivity
Expand electronic submission pathways and integrations that allow providers to transmit required clinical information with less manual
duplication. Measure adoption, error rates and turnaround.
D. My Personal Champion / Specialized Advocacy
Maintain high-touch advocate support for complex diagnoses and multi-stage treatment. Build triggers that identify when a customer is
likely to benefit from human intervention.
E. Conversational & AI Navigation
Deploy natural-language interfaces where they can safely improve discovery, benefit explanation and care navigation. Maintain human
escalation, privacy controls, clinical governance and auditable decision boundaries.
F. Customer Transparency Reporting
Convert public transparency commitments into an operating scorecard covering access, service, authorization, complaints, resolution and
customer-experience measures.
G. Affordability & Pharmacy Integration
Coordinate medical and pharmacy benefit information to help customers understand lower-cost options, appropriate therapies and
available support without compromising clinical appropriateness.
H. Continuous Improvement Office
Create a cross-functional backlog of customer pain points, prioritize by volume and severity, test interventions, measure outcomes and
retire changes that do not improve the experience.
4. Responsible Teams & Decision Rights
Cigna Healthcare
Customer experience, clinical operations, health-plan workflows, member support and provider relationships.
Evernorth Health Services
Pharmacy, care-management, health-services and digital capabilities supporting navigation and affordability.
Digital / Product Engineering
myCigna, provider digital tools, data integration, workflow automation and customer interfaces.
Clinical & Medical Policy
Authorization policy, clinical safeguards, evidence review and escalation standards.
Customer Advocacy Operations
Specialized advocates, complex-case support, escalation and resolution management.
Corporate Governance / Total Rewards
Board-level accountability, executive-performance mechanisms and customer-outcome oversight.
Data, Privacy, Security & Compliance
Measurement integrity, responsible AI controls, privacy, security, auditability and regulatory compliance.
Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication
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5. Action Plan Timeline & Milestones
2025
Foundation & policy action
Launch systemic customer-experience actions; remove selected PA requirements; expand specialized advocacy; improv
Baseline experience metrics and PA-volume red
Early 2026
Transparency & scale
Publish first Customer Transparency Report; continue digital navigation improvements and specialized-support expansion.
Public scorecard; recurring executive review; priorit
Mid–Late 2026
Digital optimization
Improve status visibility, provider workflows, digital self-service and safe AI-assisted navigation; coordinate affordability initiatives.
Higher digital task completion; lower avoidable erro
2027
Enterprise integration
Connect customer-experience measures across Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth; expand proven workflows across products and p
Unified experience scorecard; repeatable improvem
2028
Continuous optimization
Use outcome data to refine authorization policies, advocacy triggers, digital experiences and affordability programs.
Sustained lower-friction experience with measurabl
6. KPI Scorecard
KPI
Leading measures
Outcome / guardrail
Access
PA requirements removed; authorization volume; turnaround
Lower unnecessary friction without compromising clinical safety
Customer support
Advocate coverage; escalation rates; resolution time
Improved complex-case experience and resolution
Digital navigation
Task completion; status-tracker use; abandonment
Higher successful self-service with human fallback
Provider experience
Electronic submission adoption; error/rework rate
Less administrative burden and faster processing
Transparency
Report publication cadence; metric completeness
Credible, comparable customer-performance reporting
Affordability
Member savings opportunities; pharmacy/medical coordination
Lower avoidable cost while preserving appropriate care
AI governance
Accuracy, escalation, auditability, privacy incidents
Safe and responsible AI-assisted navigation
Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication
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7. Risks, Dependencies & Mitigation
Digital exclusion
Some customers may struggle with digital-only journeys.
Preserve human channels, accessibility standards and proactive escalation.
AI reliability / safety
Natural-language systems can misinterpret complex healthcare questions.
Constrain use cases, audit outputs, maintain clinical/human escalation and privacy cont
Authorization simplification
Removing requirements can create unintended utilization or quality risks.
Use evidence-based policy review, clinical safeguards and post-change monitoring.
Provider adoption
New portal workflows may not be adopted consistently.
Simplify interfaces, integrate with existing workflows and track adoption by provider segm
Transparency quality
Public metrics can be misunderstood without definitions and context.
Publish methodology, definitions, scope and comparable time periods.
Experience fragmentation
Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth capabilities can create disconnected customer journeys.
Use shared journey maps, data standards and enterprise-level ownership.
Cost pressure
Customer improvements may increase short-term operating expense.
Prioritize high-volume pain points, automation with measurable benefit and staged inves
Leadership transition
Strategic continuity can be affected during CEO succession.
Maintain board-level objectives, documented milestones and cross-functional ownership
8. Action
→
Impact Model
Remove unnecessary authorization
Fewer low-value administrative steps
→
faster access
→
improved patient/provider experience.
Expand specialized advocacy
Earlier human intervention
→
fewer unresolved complex cases
→
stronger navigation and support.
Improve digital status visibility
Clear next steps and status
→
fewer calls/rework
→
lower friction and better customer confidence.
Integrate provider workflows
Less duplicate data entry
→
fewer errors
→
faster, more predictable processing.
Publish transparency metrics
Visible performance
→
stronger accountability
→
continuous improvement based on measurable outcomes.
Use AI with safeguards
Natural-language navigation
→
easier information discovery
→
scalable support without removing human oversight.
9. Progress-Tracking Cadence
Weekly:
critical customer escalations, authorization exceptions, digital defects and high-risk service issues.
Monthly:
access, advocacy,
digital, provider and affordability KPI dashboard.
Quarterly:
executive review of customer outcomes, policy changes, technology adoption
and risk.
Annually:
Customer Transparency Report and strategic reset of priorities, targets and investments.
Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication
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10. Research Basis & Executive Conclusion
This document synthesizes The Cigna Group’s latest public disclosures and customer-experience initiatives into a practical execution
framework. Verified company facts are intentionally separated from recommended implementation mechanisms.
Verified evidence used
• The Cigna Group’s first Customer Transparency Report documents progress on customer-experience commitments and the company’s
efforts to improve access, support, value, accountability and transparency.
• Cigna reported removal of prior-authorization requirements for 345 tests, procedures and services, corresponding to an approximately
15% reduction in medical prior-authorization volume.
• Cigna reported approximately 155,000 customers received specialized advocate support in 2025, a 79% increase from 2024.
• Q2 2026 results reported revenue of approximately $71.7B, up 7% year over year, and the company raised FY2026 adjusted
income-from-operations guidance to at least $30.45 per share.
• The Cigna Group’s 2026 leadership transition places Brian Evanko in the CEO role, creating a new leadership phase while the company
continues its broader healthcare-services strategy.
Source set
Primary sources: The Cigna Group Newsroom — “The Cigna Group Launches Actions to Drive Positive Change for Customers and Patients”; The Cigna Group — First
Customer Transparency Report; Cigna Healthcare — actions to accelerate access to care and improve patient and physician experience; The Cigna Group — Q2 2026
Results and Raised 2026 Outlook; The Cigna Group corporate and leadership communications.
FINAL EXECUTIVE TAKEAWAY
The central lesson of Cigna’s current customer-experience strategy is that digital transformation alone is insufficient. Sustainable
improvement requires a coordinated system in which
policy simplification, human advocacy, digital navigation, provider workflow
integration, transparency and governance
reinforce one another. The strongest execution model therefore measures not how many
digital tools are launched, but whether customers can complete important healthcare tasks with less friction, clearer information and
appropriate human support.
Research-based synthesized Action Plan • Not an official Cigna Group publication • Prepared September 2026
