Stephanie Ellis - CIGNA Customer Experience

www.cigna.com | CIGNA's Video Customer Experience Series | Stephanie Ellis knew something was wrong the day she brought home her newborn baby boy. Diagnosed with cirtullemia, Braxton needed a liver transplant to lead what doctors predicted a "normal" and longer life.

At first, Stephanie was apprehensive to why Lesa Boettcher, a Transplant Case Manager at CIGNA, was calling her. "That's when I proceeded to tell her that I'm here to help her and her family, that I'm her advocate," said Lesa.

"The case manager was very open to my panic, I had no idea what to do," said Stephanie. "Lesa explained how she would use CIGNA's resources to get the most out of my benefits and seek optimal treatment for Braxton. She described every step in the process - everything we might encounter from success and rejection rates to mortality."

It was a race against time. Doctors said Braxton had six months to get the transplant before brain damage would occur. Finding a hospital to perform the transplant as a proactive treatment for cirtullemia was a challenge, as it's typically a reactive surgery. After an exhausting search, Lesa found a hospital across the country that would perform the transplant.

Within one month of the diagnosis, Braxton was the first patient to every have a liver transplant before brain damage occurred. "That made me feel like I truly changed this family's life," recalled Lesa. "And it was CIGNA's resources that allowed us to find this facility."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• CIGNA
• disability insurance
• health care
• healthcare
• cirtullemia
• transplant
• brain damage
• customer experience
• case manager
• newborn
• baby
• diagnosed
• liver transplant
• interview