The waiting room nobody talks about — and the door that Cigna just opened

For years, the hardest part of getting TMS wasn't the treatment. It was the wait.

You'd see a provider. You'd qualify clinically. And then you'd sit — sometimes for weeks — while paperwork moved between your insurance company and your clinic. That step has a name: prior authorization.

And as of March 6, 2026, Cigna and Evernorth no longer require it for TMS when you're working with an in-network provider.

That's a real change.

Worth understanding.

So let's get into it.

So what actually changed?

Cigna's behavioral health arm, Evernorth, announced that contracted (in-network) providers no longer have to submit a prior authorization request before starting TMS for eligible patients. The change covers more than 18 million people across Cigna and Evernorth plans.

Translation: if you have Cigna or Evernorth and you come to Coronado Wellness ( a TMS provider), you will find that the insurance review step that used to delay your start is gone.

You still have to meet the clinical criteria — usually a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and a history of trying other treatments without enough relief. That part hasn't changed. What changed is how fast you can get from "yes, you're a candidate" to "your first session is Tuesday."

Why this is a bigger deal than it sounds

Prior auth has been one of the loudest, most under-discussed reasons people give up on treatment. You finally work up the nerve to ask for help. You finally get a referral. And then you're told to wait while a form moves through a system you can't see.

For someone already running on fumes, two weeks of "we're still waiting on insurance" can be the difference between starting treatment and giving up on it.

A 2024 study in JAMA Health Forum found that prior authorization delays in mental health care correlate with higher rates of treatment abandonment — particularly for patients who'd already tried and failed multiple medications. The exact group TMS was built for.

So removing this step isn't just an administrative tweak. It's a door that used to be locked.

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A quick refresher on what TMS actually is

If you're new to it: TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, uses targeted magnetic pulses to activate the part of your brain involved in mood regulation — the same general principle a pacemaker uses electrical signals to keep a heart in rhythm.

• It's FDA-cleared.

• Each session takes about 20 minutes. You're awake the whole time, no medication, no sedation.

• You drive yourself there and you drive yourself home.

It's typically used for people who've tried antidepressants — sometimes several — without enough relief. For that group, it's often the thing that finally moves the needle.

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Who this opens the door for

TMS therapy is now easier to get for Cigna members at Coronado Wellness, offering a more accessible path to depression treatment in a private clinical setting.

If any of this sounds like you, the path just got shorter:

• You've been on antidepressants for a while and they helped at first, then stopped.

• You've tried more than one and the side effects outweigh the benefit.

• You've been showing up to therapy consistently and still feel stuck.

• You've heard about TMS but assumed the insurance hassle wasn't worth it.

That last one is the group we're thinking about most right now. A lot of people quietly opted out of TMS because they didn't want to fight their insurance for the privilege of getting better. That math has changed.

What to do if you have Cigna or Evernorth

A few things worth knowing:

The change applies to dates of service on or after March 6, 2026. It applies to in-network providers — out-of-network is still subject to prior auth. And during the rollout period, it's worth confirming benefits ahead of time, since insurance reps occasionally lag behind their own policy updates.

We're in-network with Cigna and most major insurance plans across Utah. If you've been wondering whether TMS might be right for you, this is a genuinely better time to ask than it was a few months ago.

The invitation

You don't have to be ready to commit to anything. A consultation is just a conversation — about what you've tried, what hasn't worked, and whether TMS is actually the right fit for what's going on. Sometimes it is. Sometimes the answer is something else entirely. Either way, you'll leave with more information than you walked in with.

If that sounds useful, we're here — in Provo, Springville, Draper, or by telehealth anywhere in Utah.