Welcoming three million Cigna members to Joint Academy for digital treatments for joint, shoulder, and back pain

We’re very excited to announce that Joint Academy’s digital treatments for joint, shoulder and back pain are now available to Cigna members in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida.

With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating the digitization of large parts of society, there’s never been a better or more important time to offer telehealth solutions to health plan members. That’s why we’re so happy that our work with Cigna adds another three million people to our list of health plan members that can access Joint Academy’s treatments through their health plan.

Joint pain and osteoarthritis affect tens of millions of people across the US and musculoskeletal care is one of the top drivers of cost for health plans, but studies show that many of the invasive musculoskeletal procedures that drive costs, such as knee and hip replacements, are avoidable. [1]

A randomized controlled trial that was published in 2021 shows that Joint Academy’s digital treatment on average reduces patients’ pain by 44% in just six weeks. The same figure for patients in traditional, face-to-face care in the same study was a mere 6%. [2] By getting more people into Joint Academy’s digital treatments, we’ll be able to reduce the number of avoidable and costly surgeries that currently drive a big portion of health payers’ MSK spend.

Bringing Joint Academy’s treatments to Cigna members means that everyone who is covered by Cigna in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida can now download the Joint Academy app on AppStore or Google Play and get started with the treatment straight away.

The Joint Academy treatment includes access to a licensed physical therapist, an individualized treatment plan, videos that show how to do all the exercises in the treatment plan, information about the condition, and daily reminders that nudge the patient along. Patients in the Joint Academy treatment also have access to Groups, a community function in the app where patients can meet other peers and establish joint goals and encourage each other to stay on track.

85% of people in Joint Academy’s treatment say that they reduce their pain after just six weeks. We couldn’t be happier to now be able to offer the Joint Academy treatments to Cigna members to help more and more people across the US restore their movement.

/ Kelly Rose Gentile, VP of Success and Operations

Sources

[1] https://www.healthline.com/health-news/one-third-knee-replacements-unnecessary-070114

[2] https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/digital-osteoarthritis-treatment-program-yields-better-results-traditional-care