Aetna Ranked Tops in Connecting with Doctors
May 25 2011 - 12:32PM
Business Wire
Aetna’s (NYSE:AET) continued efforts to simplify business
transactions and build a more connected health care system placed
the company first again among national health plans in the 2011
PayerView Rankings. According to the sixth annual rankings from
athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHN), and Physicians Practice®, Aetna’s
business transactions and processes are among the most simple to
use, most efficient and transparent compared to other health plans
that were measured. The complete 2011 PayerView Rankings,
evaluating 132 national, regional, and government payers in 41
states, can be found at www.athenahealth.com/PayerView.
“We continue our efforts to strengthen how we share
action-oriented information with the health care community in order
to help increase the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care,
as well as improve efficiency for doctors’ offices. The consistent
year-over-year advances made in simplicity, transparency and
real-time electronic capabilities suggest that our continued
collaboration with the health care community can make the health
care system work better for everyone,” says Mark Bertolini, Aetna
chairman, CEO and president.
Aetna has been in either the top one or two spot for five
consecutive years of PayerView Rankings. Aetna’s disciplined
approach to service, to quality and to timely information resulted
in consistent, leading performance as measured in this year’s
Rankings:
- Aetna ranked best among payers for the
percent of claims that were resolved the first time they were
submitted.
- Aetna’s clear and accessible policies
resulted in denial rates being among the lowest among national
payers.
- Aetna’s electronic remittance advice
(ERA) offers clear explanations and next steps to providers and
resulted in the highest ERA Transparency – a new metric this year –
across all payers measured.
Aetna is also one of the best in helping health care
professionals understand what the health plan will pay for
services, and what the patient or secondary health plan will owe.
Estimates of payments are available in real-time using the Provider
Payment Estimator, which Aetna launched last year.
“We understand that health care professionals and facilities
need reliable estimates of the health plan’s and the
patient’s financial responsibilities. Questions and financing
options can be discussed with patients, and payments can be made at
the time of service, which improves satisfaction for both patients
and providers,” Bertolini says. In a recent Aetna survey of
Provider Payment Estimator users, 65 percent reported
reduction in bad debt after they began using the estimator tool to
help patients budget for as well as make
timely payments for their health care.
Additional ways Aetna connects with providers
Aetna’s secure provider website via NaviNet® provides a wide
variety of easy-to-use electronic options for providers to transact
business and receive information including one-stop access to most
major payers and select regional carriers.
Health care professionals can currently check eligibility and
benefits in real time, submit or inquire about claims, review claim
payment policies, view and print explanation of payments statements
online within 24 hours of claims processing, and obtain online ERA.
In fact, Aetna has consistently out-performed the athenahealth
payer average on ERA, ending the year at more than 93 percent ERA
enrollment and paper shutoff for explanation of benefits (EOBs) in
2010.
Aetna is also the first health insurance provider to provide
electronic contracting process for physicians, hospitals and other
health care facilities so that agreements can be signed and sent
via e-mail.
The PayerView Rankings track performance data from more than
27,000 providers nationwide representing more than 47 million
medical procedure charges and $9 billion dollars in services billed
in 2010. The data is derived from athenahealth's web-based medical
billing and practice management platform, athenaCollector®, and
ranks health insurers in areas of financial performance,
administrative performance, and transaction efficacy.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care
benefits companies, serving approximately 33.8 million people with
information and resources to help them make better informed
decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of
traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance
products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental,
behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical
management capabilities and health care management services for
Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals,
college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans,
governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and
expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com. To learn more
about Aetna’s innovative online tools, visit
www.aetnatools.com.
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