The Cigna Group

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by for the Cigna Group's first quarter 2026 results review. At this time, all callers are in a listen-only mode. We will conduct a question and answer session later during the conference and review procedures on how to enter queue to ask questions at that time. If you should require assistance during the call, please press star zero on your touch-tone phone. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference, including the Q&A session, is being recorded. We'll begin by turning the conference over to Ralph Jacoby. Please go ahead.

Great, thanks. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining today's call. I'm Ralph Jacoby, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. With me on the line this morning are David Cordani, the Cigna Group's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brian Evenko, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Anne Dennison, Chief Financial Officer. In our remarks today, David, Brian, and Anne will cover a number of topics, including our first quarter 2026 financial results and our financial outlook for 2026. Following their prepared remarks, David, Brian, and Ann will be available for Q&A. As noted in our earnings release, when describing our financial results, we use certain financial measures, including adjusted income from operations and adjusted revenues, which are not determined in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, otherwise known as GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, shareholders net income and total revenues respectively, is contained in today's earnings release, which is posted in the investor relations section of the CignaGroup.com. We use the term labeled adjusted income from operations and adjusted earnings per share on the same basis as our principle measures of financial performance. In our remarks today, we will be making some forward-looking statements including statements regarding our outlook for 2026 and future performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. A description of these risks and uncertainties is contained in the cautionary note to today's earnings release and in our most recent reports filed with the SEC. Regarding our results in the first quarter, We recorded after tax special items charges of $322 million or $1.22 per share. Details of the special items are included in our quarterly financial supplement. Additionally, please note that when we make perspective comments regarding financial performance, including our full year 2026 outlook, we will do so on a basis that includes the potential impact of future share repurchases and anticipated 2026 dividends. With that, I'll turn the call over to David.

Thanks, Ralph. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. This call is somewhat bittersweet for me, as it is my last quarterly earnings call after many years at Cigna Group. As CEO, I've participated in close to 70 of these calls with you, and I'm pleased to be able to share strong results again on this call. Today, I'll focus my remarks on our strong first quarter performance and how we continue to deliver in a dynamic operating environment. And then I'll take a moment to address our leadership transition on July 1st, Brian Ivanko will step into the CEO role to drive our company's next chapter of growth, and I'll transition to the role of executive chair. Following my remarks, Brian will provide a more detailed update on our business platforms and performance, and then Ann will review additional details about our financial results and outlook, and then we'll move to your questions. So let's get started. I'm pleased to report that the Cigna Group delivered strong performance in the first quarter, including total revenues of $68.5 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of $7.79. All while we continue our disciplined track record of reinvesting back in our businesses to fund growth, addressable market expansion, and innovation. With our performance, we are raising our full year 2026 adjusted EPS outlook to at least $30.35, reflecting our disciplined approach and steady execution in an operating environment that continues to be shaped by many forces. Two of these forces are clearly rising to the top for customers and employers. First, affordability, and second, the need for healthcare that is more personalized and as a result, easier to navigate. We are addressing these expectations in an environment where healthcare demand continues to rise and the cost of new services like pharmaceuticals continue to grow at a rate greater than inflation. Against this backdrop, over the course of my tenure, there are three key attributes that our company has demonstrated time and again to fuel a successful track record of performance rooted in purpose and innovation. First and perhaps most importantly, we've been steadfast in our commitment to put the customer at the center to make the healthcare journey more affordable, personalized, and overall easier to navigate. This commitment is what spurred us to improve our prior authorization process as outlined in our first customer transparency report, which was released last month. Our goal is to make the process faster and more seamless, while ensuring that care is delivered at the right time and right place, appropriately and safely. To that end, we have removed hundreds of tests and procedures and services from prior authorization process in the United States, decreasing the volume of medical prior authorizations by about 15%. Our commitment to the customer also drove us to take an active role within the industry, which last week announced further progress towards standardization of the prior authorization process. This is enabling greater automation and more seamless, efficient access to care while maintaining appropriate safeguards. This announcement reflects continued progress on the voluntary commitments our industry made in June of 2025 in coordination with HHS and CMS. Second, our company is taking a strategic and disciplined approach to the way we shape our business portfolio, which Brian will address more in a moment. Through our approach, we remain sharply focused on where we can deliver differentiated value, and we feed those businesses with additional capabilities and resources. And where we cannot, we make the decision to exit. This process has honed our focus on the addressable markets where we have a right to win for the benefit of our customers patients, and clients, which has been a critical driver in our success for many years. Finally, we have a proven ability to innovate and perform even in the most challenging environments, whether that has been periods of accelerated medical costs or during the COVID-19 pandemic, just to name two. In moments like these, when customers' needs and behaviors change quickly, we've remained relentlessly focused on market centricity, customer centricity, and micro-segmentation. The introduction of our transformative rebate-free pharmacy service model is the most recent example. This multi-year investment in innovation will deliver the lowest price to the consumers for their brand drugs, which will be 30% lower, with full transparency each and every time. And this model further deepens partnerships with independent pharmacists, including those critical ones in rural communities. We call this offering Signature, a name that reflects a new era in pharmacy services. Now before concluding my remarks, I also want to speak briefly to our upcoming leadership transition. After my nearly 17 years as CEO of the Cigna Group, we are on track for a carefully planned transition on July 1st when Brian will succeed me as CEO and take on the role and I will take on the role of Executive Chair. Brian has a strong history of prioritizing customer and client needs in decision making grounded in our clear mission and enduring sense of purpose. Looking ahead, he is committed to further the use of data and AI to drive affordability and personalization, which in turn drives value and sustained growth. With a strong foundation and clear focus, I'm excited for Brian to take the helm to guide the Cigna Group to its next chapters of growth. And I look forward to working closely with Brian in my role as executive chair. Now let me wrap up and summarize the quarter and our results. We delivered strong performance, giving us the confidence to raise our full year guidance for 2026. We delivered total revenues of $68.5 billion and earnings per share of $7.79. Looking ahead, our increased adjusted EPS outlook of at least $30.35 reinforces the same growth, durability, and strength of our company. We are delivering in a highly dynamic environment and we continue to invest with purpose to make customer first orientation, driving discipline portfolio shaping and innovating to personalize and modernize healthcare for the benefit of our customers and clients. We have a clear strategy and the right leadership team in place to capitalize on those opportunities ahead. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Brian to discuss our results in more detail.