Cigna usually covers outpatient physical therapy under the Short-Term Rehabilitative Therapy benefit in your plan, with the copay and any visit maximum set by your schedule of copayments. Its coverage policy, published as a Cigna / ASH policy effective December 15, 2025, requires measurable improvement, limits a visit to four timed codes (about an hour) and treats a freestanding office as the usual setting. Your plan document overrides the policy wherever they differ.
Last reviewed By the Monon Therapy Collective editorial team
- Benefit name
- Short-Term Rehabilitative Therapy
- Coverage policy
- Cigna / ASH Physical Therapy (CPG 135)
- Per-visit maximum
- 4 timed codes, about one hour
- Usual setting
- Freestanding outpatient office
What is Cigna’s Short-Term Rehabilitative Therapy benefit?
It is the line in most Cigna plans that pays for outpatient physical therapy. Cigna’s Physical Therapy coverage policy (CPG 135, effective December 15, 2025) says outpatient and home physical therapy under many plans follow the terms and limits of that benefit and its schedule of copayments.
Many Cigna plans set a maximum number of visits or a maximum duration, and the policy states plainly that coverage varies across plans. Look for the Short-Term Rehabilitative Therapy row in your benefit summary; occupational and speech therapy often appear on the same row. The visit-limit explainer covers how shared limits work.
Why might Cigna pay for only about an hour of treatment per visit?
Cigna’s policy limits an outpatient physical therapy visit to a maximum of four timed codes for each date of service, which it describes as equivalent to one hour. Most treatment, such as therapeutic exercise or manual therapy, is billed in 15-minute timed units.
For most people this makes no practical difference, because one-on-one sessions are usually under an hour. It matters if you hoped to stack a long session. Your therapist plans the content to fit; how long a physical therapy session lasts gives typical ranges.
Does Cigna cover physical therapy in a hospital outpatient department?
Only when there is a specific reason. Cigna’s site-of-care policy 0600, effective August 15, 2026, treats hospital outpatient physical therapy as medically necessary only when you need specialized equipment or staff, coordinated multidisciplinary care, when no freestanding facility is within a reasonable distance, or when a freestanding office would create a barrier to equitable care.
Cigna’s own background notes say most physical therapy can be delivered safely in a freestanding clinic that is not hospital based. Examples where a hospital setting may be needed include amputation, severe burns, organ transplant and cardiac conditions needing monitoring. If you were sent to a hospital department by default, ask whether your plan expects you to use a freestanding office instead.
Which kinds of therapy does Cigna treat as not medically necessary?
Cigna covers therapy when your condition can improve, goals are measurable, progress shows in successive objective measurements and a licensed provider’s skill is needed. It does not cover care where those conditions fail.
The policy names general fitness and conditioning, programs mainly to return to athletic or recreational sports, relaxation massage and whirlpools, and exercise you can safely do alone. It also lists infrared light therapy and vasopneumatic devices, and says back school and work hardening are excluded under many plans. A home program is not always enough: Cigna allows for poor technique that needs cueing, lack of support at home and cognitive impairment.
- General fitness or conditioning programs
- Programs mainly for returning to athletic or recreational sport
- Massage or whirlpool for relaxation
- Repetitive exercise you can do safely on your own
- Back school and work hardening (excluded on many plans)
What should a Cigna member confirm before the first visit?
Confirm your Short-Term Rehabilitative Therapy cost share, the visit maximum, whether a referral or approval is needed, and whether the therapist’s office works with your Cigna plan. Cigna’s policy documents note that some Cigna companies and lines of business only provide utilization review for their clients and do not make benefit determinations, so the plan your employer chose can differ from the standard plans the policy describes.
Name Cigna in the two-minute questionnaire. The matching team proposes an independent therapist whose office works with your plan where possible, and that office verifies benefits before you are seen in a private, one-on-one suite at 885 Monon Green Blvd. If running is your goal, the running injury physical therapy page explains where rehab ends and training begins.
