Termination of Cigna’s Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan
Piedmont’s contract with Cigna MA expired on March 31, 2025. During the period of our negotiation, Cigna sold this plan to Health Care Service Corporation. Piedmont does not anticipate a renewal of this contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this impact my relationship with Piedmont and/or my Piedmont physicians?
This termination affects Piedmont hospitals and Piedmont Clinic providers as well as services provided at freestanding and joint venture ambulatory surgery centers, home health, and home infusion.
For patients who would like to change to a plan during the next open enrollment period that includes Piedmont in its network:
Patients can search for their physician on care.piedmont.org and review the list of insurance coverage on their profile.
Piedmont hospitals participate in multiple Medicare Advantage plans as well as traditional Medicare and have contracts that extend through 2025 with these plans:
- Traditional Medicare (provided by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
- Aetna
- Anthem MediBlue
- Caresource Dual Advantage
- Clover Health
- Clear Springs Health (previously, Eon Health)
- Georgia Health Advantage (American Health Plan)
- Humana
- Kaiser
- Pruitt Health Premier (AllyAlign)
- Sonder
- United Healthcare
- WellCare
For patients who were in the midst of ongoing medical treatment when the contract expired:
Patients in ongoing medical treatment should contact Cigna and verify if their treatment will be covered under continuity of care benefits, which typically would allow patients to continue receiving treatment from Piedmont and be covered by Cigna for a specific time period.
If patients with Cigna MA are present at a Piedmont hospital with an emergency, will they be turned away?
No, patients will not be turned away. In addition, Cigna has indicated that emergency care for patients will be covered at in-network benefits.
If patients with Cigna MA need to be hospitalized and want to choose a Piedmont facility, what should they do?
As a patient, the Cigna MA contract termination has different implications depending on whether the patient has a PPO plan or an HMO plan. The insurance card should clearly state if the patient is in a PPO or HMO plan.
For PPO Plan Patients: For patients with a PPO plan, they can continue receiving care at Piedmont utilizing out-of-network benefits, which are often not as good as in-network benefits. Prior authorization for medical services is still required. Patients should call Cigna with questions. All emergency care for patients with an PPO plan will be covered by in-network benefits.
For HMO Plan Patients: For patients with an HMO plan, non-emergent care at Piedmont may not be covered by Cigna. To verify if non-emergent services are covered by the Cigna MA HMO plan, you should call Cigna with questions at the number on the back of your Member ID Card.
Learn more information about what you can do when your Medicare Advantage plan removes a provider from its network. If you have additional questions, contact Cigna MA at the number provided on the back of your card or visit medicare.gov.