I have heard way too many times lately that Acupuncturists need to belong to Acucare to be a Cigna provider? What in the world is Cigna talking about? Your contract with ASH is what gains you access to Cigna NOT Acucare. When I was first told this (by Cigna provider relations, by a couple of different people because I called back hoping to get the REAL story) I sat there perplexed. I then immediately called ASH provider relations and had a discussion with them asking if they knew what Cigna was telling people and reconfirmed that they still handled Cigna, right? Yes.
They were bewildered but also almost dismissive that I had been told that because it was so absurd. He called over to Cigna after we ended our call to find out what was going on, called me back and said he had no idea why I had been told that. Since then, I’ve heard the ‘must belong to Acucare’ thing from other providers. While I tried to get ASH working on this issue, clearly it remains unresolved. I even tried looking up Acucare after that initial phone call and it was a joke. The website was obviously low budget, I tried calling them and they only answered calls between 8 and 3 four days a week or something absurd like that and they charged for membership! This was NOT the type of organization that Cigna would use for contracting let alone the fact that they already have their contracting handled by ASH! I tried calling ASH again this last Friday, but they were closed for Good Friday (no comment). I think I will e-mail them as well as try to call them again this week. They have a problem if Cigna is telling people to go through Acucare and they should be concerned by this. I’ll do my best to bring this to their attention again and rattle their cages. If anyone has information on this, please comment. Also, if you’ve heard this, please call ASH provider relations or send them a message. The more of us who do, the more it will elevate this with ASH.