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Many metro Richmond residents enrolling in Obamacare for 2018 will now have VCU Health System facilities and providers available in their health insurance coverage.
VCU Health System and Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. in a joint statement released Wednesday announced that VCU Health will be an in-network provider in Cigna Connect, a plan offered in Central Virginia under the Affordable Care Act. Cigna is the only provider available under Obamacare in much of the metro market, though coverage is available through Anthem to some residents of Goochland, New Kent and Powhatan counties.
Cigna Connect coverage will be effective Jan. 1 and will be covered at the in-network level, according to the release. HCA facilities and providers were the only group covered in 2018 through Cigna previously. VCU Health cautions that its facilities and providers will not show up at the Obamacare enrollment website healthcare.gov, nor on Cigna’s site as in-network during the enrollment period, but will sometime after Jan. 1.
Cigna and VCU Health entered into talks after an internal conversation at VCU over concerns about patients receiving specialized care unique to VCU Health, and how they would maintain continuity of care, according to Sheryl Garland, vice president for health policy and community relations for the health system.
She said about 3,300 people who received healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act in 2017 were at risk of losing access to VCU Health System. Those patients will receive communications from VCU concerning the change.
"We are excited to be participating," Garland says. "We are so happy we’ve reached an agreement."
People in need of help in choosing coverage under the ACA may find help through ENROLL Virginia. Enrollment continues through Dec. 15. About 360,000 Virginia residents were covered through health insurance policies acquired through the exchange in 2017.
CAPSULES
A roundup of the week’s health and medicine news
Photo courtesy Bon Secours Richmond Health System
- Urgent healthcare providers will come to you in a partnership between Bon Secours Richmond Health System and DispatchHealth that was announced today in an event at St. Mary’s Hospital. Here’s how it works: You access the service via a call (804-495-0053), an app or through the website. Your request is screened, then a healthcare team can be dispatched to your home, office or wherever. The service is appropriate for a number of types of urgent-care visits, such as flu, urinary tract infections, minor fractures or gastrointestinal distress, but is not meant for medical emergencies, such as chest pain, vomiting blood or symptoms of a stroke.
- Trash your cigarettes and vape no more: Today is the Great American Smokeout, The American Cancer Society’s annual effort to urge Americans to give up their tobacco habits. About one in seven Americans smokes cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Anita Everett, CMO of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and William Hazel Jr., Virginia’s secretary of health and human resources will be on hand for the ribbon cutting set for 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 17, at the Virginia Treatment Center for Children. The treatment center is a $56 million children’s mental health facility on Sherwood Avenue for the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. The facility is set to open in early 2018.
- Eat your veggies and head out to Deep Run Park at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, for the Tofurky Trot 5-K, a run and walk to benefit the Porchlight Animal Sanctuary. Kids in strollers and dogs on leashes are welcome, but registration is required by Saturday, Nov. 18. $30 for adults, $15 for ages 6-17, and no charge for ages 6 and younger. Porchlight says it “provides a permanent home for rescued farm animals.”
- Free vision screenings and eyewear are available to children in need on Tuesday, Nov. 28, through Visionworks and Davis Vision affiliates’ Let’s Go See initiative. You can apply online for vouchers for service for students ages 5-18 who are not covered by vision insurance, Medicaid or under the Affordable Care Act, according to a release.
- The Children’s Museum of Richmond, 2626 W. Broad St., is the site for RVA Different Abilities Day, 6 p.m. on Dec. 3. Admission is a suggested donation of $10. The event, sponsored by the nonprofit Project: Just Like You, will feature a short film that celebrates people diversity and all abilities. Refreshments will be served.
- Training at Virginia Commonwealth University for educators and physical therapists who work with children with significant disabilities has received a funding boost through a five-year, $1.1 million federal grant. The program will train 20 educators and 10 physical therapists. It is called Project 3IP: Interdisciplinary and Intensive Intervention Preparation for Professionals Serving Young Children with Significant Disabilities, according to a release.
- Pediatric urology at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU is getting a $2.9 million boost, courtesy of its Children’s Hospital Foundation. $1.5 million of that sum will be used in founding the Children’s Hospital Foundation Endowed Chair in Pediatric Urology, which will be held by C.D. Anthony Herndon, chief of pediatric urology and co-surgeon-in-chief for the facility. About $1.5 million of the pledge will be used for recruiting more pediatric urologists, and $60,000 is targeted for its voiding dysfunction program, according to a release.
