By David M. Cordani, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Cigna Group, and Donna F. Zarcone, Chair, Corporate Governance Committee, The Cigna Group Board of Directors. 

The Cigna Group has roots that can be traced back more than 200 years—and has an unparalleled track record in our industry of making a positive impact in the lives of people around the world. Today, our more than 70,000 colleagues continue to work tirelessly with our customers, clients, partners, and communities to deliver on our evolved mission: to improve the health and vitality of those we serve.

It’s this steadfast focus on our mission that fuels The Cigna Group colleagues, by leading, partnering, innovating, and serving our stakeholders through sustained geopolitical and economic disruption.

With the Public Health Emergency winding down, The Cigna Group continued efforts in 2022 to lead for those we serve. We worked closely with health care providers and hospital systems, and we partnered with local organizations in communities in need to educate individuals and help support expanded access to care.

The devastating war and humanitarian tragedy in Ukraine is difficult to fathom, and The Cigna Group stands proudly with the people of Ukraine. We supported Ukraine with donations in the region, as well as crisis and counseling support for regional customers. We also partnered with the United Nations, a client we are privileged to serve, to support their employees as they worked tirelessly to help people in Ukraine. In addition, our colleague volunteers from The Cigna Group helped refugees as they fled to other countries. Our great hope is that this war will come to an end peacefully and swiftly.

In last year’s report, we introduced you to our new ESG framework—one that meets the needs of our many stakeholders today, and in the future. This year, with oversight by The Cigna Group Board of Directors, we have built on that framework by developing a strategic road map to deliver on our ESG vision: to transform the ecosystem of health into one that is well functioning, sustainable, accessible, and equitable—advancing better health for all. This vision guides us as we continue to push ourselves to do more in the years ahead in each of the four pillars that comprise our ESG framework: Healthy Society, Healthy Workforce, Healthy Environment, and Healthy Company. The following are a few highlights of our 2022 efforts within each pillar.

Healthy Society

We believe that all individuals should have access to high-quality and affordable health care, and we are committed to fostering an ecosystem of health that sustains future generations. We demonstrate that commitment through efforts such as using a digital-first mindset, working to ensure affordable access to prescription drugs, and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) in order to reduce health disparities. For example, we are working to eliminate health disparities relative to diabetes through a multifaceted approach, including enhanced training for our clinical colleagues, patient education, monthly caps on insulin costs, and support for community health workers. In addition, our charitable giving is focused on health equity and organizations that address SDOH, helping to create more vibrant, healthier, and more equitable communities. In 2022, The Cigna Group Foundation funded more than 150 grants, and 90% supported efforts that addressed SDOH. Looking to the future, in 2022, we announced a multi-year collaboration with VillageMD, a leading provider of value-based primary care services. This partnership is aimed at better connecting our Evernorth Health Services with physicians, accelerating value-based care arrangements, and broadening access to medical and behavioral services. By doing so, we help employers save money while getting patients to the right care in the right setting at the right time.

Healthy Workforce

The only way we are going to further our mission is to recruit, retain, develop, and promote the best talent. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that well-being is more than physical and mental health alone; it’s the pursuit of vitality—or dimensions of health, strength, and energy. To further support the vitality of our workforce and their families, we expanded our caregiver program in 2022 in the United States and doubled the number of employee assistance program (EAP) visits for coworkers and their families, with up to 10 free, confidential counseling sessions per year. We are also proud of the progress we have made in the last year to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for our workforce and workplace. We continued to deliver on our DEI goals and efforts, and we publicly shared our DEI scorecard. This data has been informing the areas where we need to invest greater time and resources. For example, we have a long-standing commitment to fair pay practices and last year, our externally conducted pay equity analysis showed that our female colleagues earned more than 99 cents for every dollar earned by our similarly situated male colleagues. We are on track to achieve our goal to reach gender parity in our leadership pipeline by 2024. Recognizing our hard work, we are encouraged by the number of awards we received for our progress in 2022, including a #14 ranking on Fair360’s (formerly known as DiversityInc) Top Companies for Diversity, a 10-place jump forward over the prior year.

Healthy Environment

There is an intrinsic connection between human health and environmental health, and we know our stakeholders are counting on our company to further reduce emissions and ensure long-term sustainability. In 2022, we joined RE100, a global renewable energy initiative, and committed to source 100% renewable electricity by 2030. We continued our work to achieve carbon neutrality for our operations by 2040 and to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. We are currently working to expand our assessment of our Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and a timeline for defined science-based reduction targets. These steps build on a number of environmental investments in the areas of sustainable buildings, renewable electricity, water, and other innovations across The Cigna Group. We also are making more health care services available where and when people need them. Our MDLIVE platform provides virtual primary care, mental health care, urgent care, and more from the comfort, privacy, and convenience of wherever the individual prefers. With this platform, we also recognize the growing opportunity we have to further reduce greenhouse emissions with every use, including the environmental footprint generated by individual travel to care.

Healthy Company

Strong governance and ethical business practices are a cornerstone of our company. That is why all our colleagues around the world are guided in their every action by our Code of Ethics and Principles of Conduct. Along with our values, these guide our decisions both in actual letter, as well as intention. To ensure long-term business sustainability, we have cultivated a set of businesses of different sizes and scale, maturity, and rates of growth which individually—and by working together—position our company to deliver on our mission. We updated our company name to The Cigna Group, reflecting the breadth of our businesses and relationships across our two growth platforms, each leading the way in the defining health issues of our time: access to quality, affordable medical benefits with Cigna Healthcare and the provision of a range of health solutions and pharmacy benefits with Evernorth Health Services. Finally, our focus on strong governance is evident at every level. Our ESG strategy and efforts have ultimate oversight by The Cigna Group Board of Directors, and we are pleased that our commitment to diversity and governance is reflected in our Board composition. In 2022, we exceeded the S&P benchmarks on median age, tenure, gender, and ethnic diversity.

At The Cigna Group, we approach the world’s health challenges with optimism, urgency, and a confidence that we will continue to make a positive impact. Our efforts throughout 2022 earned our company the #1 ranking for corporate citizenship among the health care industry by JUST Capital and CNBC, a direct reflection of the hard work of our colleagues around the world, who remain relentlessly focused on delivering on our mission every day. Our work will never be done, but with clarity of focus, we will expand on our 2022 accomplishments in the years ahead and build a healthier world for all.