Cigna Cut Member Opioid Use By 25% In Two Years

On March 28, 2018, the health insurer Cigna announced that since implementing an initiative in 2016 to reduce member use of prescription opioid pain relievers, it has reduced the volume of opioids prescribed by 25%. When Cigna launched the initiative the goal was to reduce the volume by 25% over three years to bring utilization down to 2006 levels. In April 2017, Cigna reported that its members’ use of prescribed opioids had declined by nearly 12%.

For this initiative, Cigna measured the total volume of opioids being prescribed based on morphine milligram equivalent doses, taking into account the number of . . .