Cigna is adding online therapy firm Talkspace to its growing menu of telehealth offerings as insurers expand further into offering mental health to their virtual provider networks
... [+]Gettyfirm Talkspace to its growing menu of telehealth offerings as insurers expand further into offering mental health to their virtual provider networks.
Cigna said 14 million people enrolled in its employer-sponsored health plans have access to Talkspace’s network of licensed therapists. Talkspace links health plan enrollees with licensed therapists by video online and text, allowing patients to conduct private sessions on-demand in the comfort of their own homes, the companies said.
The use of online mental health therapy and psychiatric services has exploded amid the pandemic as Americans across the country face rising unemployment and the daily struggle of complying with “shelter in place” orders amid the surge of cases of the Coronavirus strain Covid-19. On Thursday, Talkspace said the deal with Cigna’s commercial health plan clients will bring “the total number of insured U.S. lives covered for Talkspace to a milestone of 40 million.
“Almost no one is immune to the emotional toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether you’re on the frontlines, juggling work from home, or in self-isolation,” Cigna’s managing director of behavioral strategy and solutions, Eva Borden said. “This is why we’ve accelerated efforts to bring more virtual mental health care options so that customers have easier access to the personalized support they need — at a place and time that works for them.”...