Elizabeth Lopatto
Denied care by an algorithm.
Cigna has been denying patients’ claims without actually looking at them, ProPublica reports.
A Cigna algorithm flags mismatches between diagnoses and what the company considers acceptable tests and procedures for those ailments. Company doctors then sign off on the denials in batches, according to interviews with former employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We literally click and submit,” one former Cigna doctor said. “It takes all of 10 seconds to do 50 at a time.”
