Aetna Whole Health™ and Carilion Clinic Products Debut in Roanoke Area
October 24 2011 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Carilion Clinic have launched a suite of
new health benefit plans – called Aetna Whole Health™ – now
available to Virginia employers with two to 100 eligible employees.
Aetna Whole Health plans create a unique opportunity for
Roanoke-area businesses to help their employees optimize their
health and get healthier faster. The plans feature a new model of
health care delivery designed to offer:
- a more coordinated, personalized
experience for patients;
- lower co-pays for seeing designated
providers; and
- better health care outcomes.
Aetna Whole Health plans unite Aetna’s network of contracted
providers and small-group plans with doctors, hospitals and
outpatient specialty centers from Carilion Clinic and LewisGale
Regional Health System. The plans are priced to reflect the cost
and quality benefits of the Aetna-Carilion collaboration. Members
can benefit from a low co-pay differential by using “designated
network providers” who have been recognized or are in the process
of being recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance
(NCQA) for meeting stringent efficiency and quality measures.
Providers will help to create healthier communities by sharing
information as patients pass through different health care settings
and using personalized care and patient engagement to improve
quality.
These new products are based on Carilion’s and Aetna’s
accountable care organization (ACO) relationship, announced in
March. ACOs are alliances of physicians, hospitals and other
providers that offer a more coordinated approach to care for their
patients with the goal of improving quality and reducing costs.
ACOs emphasize preventive care and better care coordination among
various providers to improve quality and efficiency. Aetna Whole
Health features payment models that encourage providers to share
accountability for health care quality and affordability.
“Aetna is very happy to launch new commercial products in
collaboration with Carilion as we transform patient care and build
a more effective, sustainable health care delivery system to serve
the Roanoke area,” said Charles D. Kennedy, M.D., Aetna’s chief
executive officer of Accountable Care Solutions. “Collaborative
care models have been shown to improve quality and reduce costs.
Aetna is using the experience we’ve gained to design
patient-centered, accountable care models for large hospital
systems and integrated delivery networks around the country.” For
more information on Aetna’s Accountable Care Solutions, visit the
company’s dedicated website at www.aetnaacs.com.
“This is an exciting time for Aetna,” said Thomas Grote, Aetna’s
market president for Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. “We’re
looking to greatly expand our presence in the Roanoke area. This
new approach enables us to offer improved quality and more
cost-effective products for small employers, who are struggling in
these difficult times to provide affordable, comprehensive health
benefits to their workers.”
The initiative combines Aetna’s innovative tools, designed to
empower consumers by providing more control over health decisions,
with Carilion’s accountable medical group, featuring a fully
integrated electronic medical record and a comprehensive network of
primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals and outpatient
facilities.
“This is part of our commitment to our patients and our
community”, said Carilion Clinic President and CEO Nancy Howell
Agee. “Our focus on advancing quality in health care, and our
relationship with Aetna, makes it possible to establish this new
partnership with patients. It is a significant step in our mission
to inspire better health and wellness.”
Aetna provides health benefits to more than 550,000 members in
Virginia. Those members have access to a contracted network of 92
hospitals and more than 14,000 primary care and specialist
physicians.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care
benefits companies, serving approximately 36.5 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.
About Carilion Clinic
Carilion Clinic is a not-for-profit health care organization
serving nearly one million people in Virginia through hospitals,
outpatient specialty centers and advance primary care practices.
Led by multi-specialty physician teams with a shared philosophy
that puts the patient first, Carilion is committed to improving
outcomes for every patient while advancing the quality of care
through medical education and research. For more information, visit
www.carilionclinic.org/about.
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