Aetna and Fresenius Medical Care Begin Chronic Kidney Disease Management Program
February 10 2012 - 11:03AM
Business Wire
Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS) today
announced the launch of a joint program aimed at improving clinical
outcomes and reducing costs by slowing the progression of chronic
kidney disease in members and facilitating gentler, less costly
transitions to dialysis or pre-transplant care.
Chronic kidney disease is the slow loss of kidney function over
time and is often caused by diabetes or high blood pressure. The
new patient-centric care program enhances coordination of care
among specialists, primary care providers and nurses. Together,
they identify members at risk and improve clinical management in
earlier stages of kidney disease to help slow the progression to
kidney failure. An important component of the program involves
daily communication of the member’s biometric and health status
through a wireless communication device that helps the care team
identify, address or even prevent potentially serious
complications.
"We believe the model will improve our members' quality of life
by helping them and their doctors better manage the conditions
contributing to or resulting from chronic kidney disease. If
dialysis becomes necessary we want to help members begin dialysis
with the lowest risk for complications,” says Roger London, M.D.,
Aetna’s Northeast Region medical director.
Often people do not know they have chronic kidney disease
because the kidneys may slowly stop working over 10 - 20 years
before end-stage disease -- kidney failure – results. Kidney
failure often involves an abrupt hospitalization to control
complications and to start dialysis. Better coordination,
education, planning and awareness of dialysis options provided
through the program can help members begin dialysis treatment on a
safer, less costly outpatient basis.
A track-record of success
The program is modeled on Fresenius Health Partners’ successful
five-year demonstration project with Medicare beneficiaries on
dialysis. Concluded last year with the U.S. Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services (CMS), the project resulted in health care
costs 12 percent below the Medicare Advantage and four percent
below the Medicare fee-for-service benchmarks for this population.
At the same time patients in the program experienced overall
improvement in clinical measures including a 24 percent improvement
in the rate of mortality and a 20 percent reduction in all-cause
hospitalization versus national benchmarks.
"Our company’s focus and expertise is comprehensive renal
therapy management. As rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease
climb and threaten to dramatically increase the incident rates for
renal disease, we want to assist payers, doctors and patients by
providing the highest quality and most cost-effective care now,"
said Peter Sauer, president at Fresenius Health Partners.
“We value our business relationship with Fresenius Medical Care
and the complementary capabilities they can provide to improve the
care our members receive. We believe the new program is one more
way we can increase value and quality within the health care
system,” said Bill Stout, head of Aetna’s National Provider
Contracting.
Aetna commercial and Medicare medical members in targeted
Northeast markets currently have access to the new program.
Additional expansion is expected throughout 2012.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care
benefits companies, serving approximately 36.4 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,
health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored
plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see
www.aetna.com.
About Fresenius Medical Care
Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: FMS) is the world’s leading
company devoted to patient-oriented renal therapy. Through more
than 2,900 clinics in North America, Europe, Latin America,
Asia-Pacific and Africa, we provide kidney dialysis treatments to
approximately 228,000 patients worldwide. We are also the world's
leading maker of dialysis products such as hemodialysis machines,
dialyzers and related disposable products. Chronic kidney failure
is a condition that affects about 2 million individuals worldwide.
For more information about the company’s more than 1,800 U.S.
dialysis facilities, visit www.ultracare-dialysis.com (in English
and Spanish). For more information about Fresenius Medical Care,
visit www.fmc-ag.com or www.fmcna.com.
Legal Disclaimer:
This release contains forward-looking statements that are
subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results could
differ materially from those described in these forward-looking
statements due to certain factors, including changes in business,
economic and competitive conditions, regulatory reforms, foreign
exchange rate fluctuations, uncertainties in litigation or
investigative proceedings, and the availability of financing. These
and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in Fresenius Medical
Care AG & Co. KGaA's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA does
not undertake any responsibility to update the forward-looking
statements in this release.
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