Sarasota Memorial Health Care reaches agreement with Cigna

More than five years after Sarasota Memorial stopped accepting plans from Cigna health insurance, the health care system has reached an agreement with the Connecticut-based insurer. 

As of Oct. 1, those with Cigna’s commercial health insurance plans will have access to Sarasota Memorial Health Care System’s acute-care hospitals in Sarasota and Venice, its outpatient and urgent care center network as well as First Physicians Group physicians and affiliated providers, according to a statement.

The Sarasota-based health care system, which handled nearly 1.88 million patient visits last year and had $1.88 billion in operating revenue in 2024, stopped accepting Cigna in April 2020 after the two organizations could not negotiate a contract.

“We are pleased that our customers and their families will once again have in-network access to quality care at Sarasota Memorial and Florida Physician Group," Cigna Healthcare North Florida General Manager Christine Castellvi says in a statement to the Business Observer. "Together we will work to improve health for the people we both serve in this community.”

Cigna is one of the nation’s largest commercial health insurers. According to a 2024 study by the American Medical Association, the five largest commercial health insurers in the U.S. by market share were UnitedHealth with 15%, Elevance Health/Anthem with 12%, CVS/Aetna with 12%, Cigna with 11% and Blue Cross Blue Shield with 7%.

Cigna Healthcare posted $52.91 billion in revenue and had more than 19 million medical customers in FY 2024. It is a division of The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI), which posted nearly $247.1 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2024.