Cigna: Patients deferring care for acute needs like appendicitis, heart conditions

While hospitals have put elective procedures on pause during the pandemic, patients seeking care for serious health needs have also decreased significantly, new data from Cigna show.
Researchers at the insurer studied care utilization among their commercial group and individual plan members between January and March across seven conditions and found decreases in hospitalizations across the board.
For example, the hospitalization rate related to atrial fibrillation decreased by 35% between February and March. 
Large numbers of patients pushing off care for acute needs could have major repercussions as the industry emerges from the pandemic, said Saif Rathore, M.D., head of data and analytic innovation at Cigna and one of the report’s authors.
“This is part of us trying to sound the alarm,” he told FierceHealthcare. “There will be consequences for this kind of care deferral.”