NEW YORK and WOONSOCKET, R.I., March
2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ActiveHealth Management, an
independent subsidiary of Aetna (NYSE: AET), and CVS Caremark
(NYSE: CVS) today announced a three-year agreement designed to
help further improve the health of CVS Caremark members. Under the
agreement, CVS Caremark will apply the evidence-based, clinical
intelligence of the ActiveHealth CareEngine® to health care claims
for its pharmacy benefit management (PBM) customers in order to
identify opportunities for improved pharmacy care. CVS Caremark
will apply the CareEngine to more than 800,000 members beginning in
April, with additional membership to be added as CVS Caremark
consults with its PBM clients.
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110302/NE57188LOGO )
(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090226/NE75914LOGO )
"The ActiveHealth CareEngine offers evidence-based information
that can be used to improve the health care of our members and
enables us to take our programs to the next level by seamlessly
incorporating medical data," said Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH,
Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CVS Caremark.
"This agreement will enhance our existing programs to identify
issues related to gaps in care, potential drug-to-drug interactions
and duplicative care – information that is important to bring to
the attention of the member's physician."
As physicians, the founders and management team of ActiveHealth
understand that given the frequency and amount of emerging clinical
data, it is challenging for physicians to stay current on every
issue that affects their patients. As a result, they created the
CareEngine® System to address that challenge. Today, ActiveHealth's
team of board-certified physicians, pharmacists and registered
nurses constantly review the latest clinical evidence and
guidelines and build them into the CareEngine System. The
CareEngine then reviews the available clinical data on patients,
compares it to evidence-based guidelines, and delivers Care
Considerations (or "care alerts") that physicians can act on to
improve care.
"CVS Caremark is a leader in pharmacy care and is committed to
improving the efficacy of medication therapy. Our expertise in
clinical decision support will help improve their members' health
outcomes as well as better engage those members in their health,"
said Gregory Steinberg, M.D., CEO of
ActiveHealth Management.
ActiveHealth's technology will help CVS Caremark identify and
address gaps in care and other opportunities to improve care for
its members. Research has shown that when acted upon, ActiveHealth
Care Considerations have repeatedly demonstrated quality
improvements and lower costs. In a study of more than 39,000
individuals, ActiveHealth's clinical decision support technology
identified potentially serious medical errors for nearly one of
every 20 people, and helped reduce hospitalizations among the study
population by 8.4 percent(1).
"Initially, these messages will be shared only with members'
physicians, but we believe there is an opportunity to improve
member engagement and their compliance with pharmacy care
recommendations by sharing that information directly with members.
This is especially critical for patients with chronic or complex
conditions who see multiple physicians and take multiple
medications," said Brennan of CVS Caremark.
About CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark is the largest pharmacy health care provider in
the United States. Through our
integrated offerings across the entire spectrum of pharmacy care,
we are uniquely positioned to provide greater access, to engage
plan members in behaviors that improve their health and to lower
overall health care costs for health plans, plan sponsors and their
members. CVS Caremark is a market leader in mail order pharmacy,
retail pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, and retail clinics, and is a
leading provider of Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans. As one
of the country's largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), we
provide access to a network of approximately 65,000 pharmacies,
including more than 7,100 CVS/pharmacy® stores that provide
unparalleled service and capabilities. Our clinical offerings
include our signature Pharmacy Advisor™ program as well as
innovative generic step therapy and genetic benefit management
programs that promote more cost effective and healthier behaviors
and improve health care outcomes. General information about CVS
Caremark is available through the Company's Web site at
http://info.cvscaremark.com/.
About ActiveHealth Management
ActiveHealth Management creates evidence-based health
information technology solutions that deliver proven benefits in
quality and costs. The company's patented CareEngine® System is
developed by physicians and provides tailored and actionable
clinical analytics and decision support to help improve patient
health and wellness. ActiveHealth's full portfolio of solutions
helps payors, providers, patients and other health care
organizations collaborate to improve the care experience, reduce
costs and save lives. More than 19 million people nationwide
benefit from ActiveHealth programs. Founded in 1998 and
headquartered in New York City,
ActiveHealth is an independent subsidiary of Aetna (NYSE:
AET). For more information, please visit
http://www.activehealth.net.
(1) Javitt, et al. "Using a Claims Data-based, Sentinel System
to Improve Compliance with Clinical Guidelines: Results of a
Randomized Prospective Study," American Journal of Managed Care
Feb. 2005; 11:93-102.
Media Contacts:
ActiveHealth
Management:
Sherry Sanderford
904-351-4592
SanderfordS@aetna.com
|
|
|
|
CVS Caremark:
Christine Cramer
401-770-3317
ckcramer@cvs.com
|
|
|
SOURCE CVS Caremark