August 13, 2008 02:42 PM Eastern Time 

CIGNA Enhances Senior Leadership Team

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CIGNA (NYSE:CI) announced today it is further enhancing the role it is taking to actively contribute to and influence the health care reform debate and global policy discussion. In support of the company’s mission to help improve the health, well-being and security of the people it serves, Dr. Jeffrey L. Kang, Chief Medical Officer will join CIGNA's executive leadership team and will now report directly to H. Edward Hanway, Chairman and CEO, CIGNA Corporation. Kang, who has extensive experience in the health policy arena, will work closely with Hanway on external issues facing the health care industry.

For the past six years, Kang has served as chief medical officer for CIGNA HealthCare. He will continue in that role, with responsibility for the company's medical strategy and policy. This includes areas such as evidence-based coverage decisions, benefit design, disease management, case management, utilization management, quality measurement and improvement, clinical integration, and health care professionals rewards strategy.

Prior to joining CIGNA, Dr. Kang was the chief clinical officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). While with CMS, he was responsible for Medicare technology assessment and coverage policy, setting quality standards for Medicare participating hospitals and facilities, and leading CMS's quality measurement, improvement and patient safety activities.

He began his career as a practicing physician and executive director at the Urban Medical Group in Boston, a not-for-profit group practice that specializes in care for the chronically ill.

Dr. Kang serves as the president of the Washington, DC-based eHealth Initiative, an independent, not-for-profit, organization focused on improving the quality, safety and efficiency of health care through health information technology.

Dr. Kang is board certified in internal medicine and geriatrics and was on the clinical faculty at Harvard Medical School. He received his M.D. from University of California at San Francisco, and his M.P.H from the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr. Kang's parents, Chi Lung Kang and Chia-chen Chu, were born and raised in Shanghai, China and immigrated to the US in 1949.

About CIGNA

CIGNA (NYSE:CI) provides employers with benefits, expertise and services that improve the health, well-being and productivity of their employees. With approximately 47 million covered lives in the United States and around the world, CIGNA's operating subsidiaries offer a full portfolio of medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy and vision care benefits and group life, accident and disability insurance. www.cigna.com.