– Largest consumer-driven health plan in FEHB announces its latest innovation to simplify and improve health interactions for federal enrollees –
– Aetna’s Personal Health Record, powered by the ActiveHealth® patented CareEngine® system, provides personalized alerts to members and physicians about opportunities to improve care –
Aetna (NYSE:AET) announced today that as of January 2008, every federal enrollee that selects an Aetna medical plan will gain access to a password-protected, online Personal Health Record (PHR) that provides a centralized resource for health information and delivers personalized alerts to improve health care. As of September 1st, 26,000 Aetna federal enrollees already have access to an Aetna PHR.
“We are committed to helping simplify and improve our members’ interactions with the health care system,” said Tom Bernatavitz, Aetna vice president of Federal Plans. “The Aetna PHR is the latest example of how we’re identifying opportunities for our federal members to increase access to information to help improve their health, as well as improving convenience,” he said.
“It is a great help for busy families trying to keep track of immunizations on their children, as well as for federal enrollees that travel. They can access their personal health information 24 hours a day, seven days a week from anywhere in the world,” Bernatavitz explained.
Aetna PHR works in the background to improve health
Last year Aetna was the first to show its federal members physician-specific price information, clinical quality and efficiency data in selected markets. “Now we are arming our federal members with a powerful Personal Health Record that contains not only important data about their health, but actually works to help improve health,” said Bernatavitz.
Aetna’s PHR is powered by the ActiveHealth patented CareEngine system. In addition to providing a centralized record of member health history, current treatments and personal health data, Aetna’s PHR continuously scans the individual’s health data and claims information – such as physician office, lab, diagnostic treatment and prescriptions – then compares it against highly respected sources of medical literature. When appropriate, it will alert the individual and, in some cases, his or her doctors about possible urgent situations and opportunities to improve care. Members can further personalize the PHR with family health history, immunization records, allergies and emergency contacts.
Innovations help drive growth in Aetna plans
This year Aetna became the largest consumer-driven health plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program with 26,000 members in its two Aetna HealthFund® plans – the Aetna HealthFund Consumer Driven Health Plan (Health Reimbursement Arrangement or HRA plan) and the Aetna HealthFund High Deductible Health Plan (Health Savings Account or HSA plan). Aetna introduced its HRA to federal enrollees in 2004 and the HSA in 2005. Both plans give federal members access to Aetna’s PPO networks and are currently available to enrollees in 37 states plus the District of Columbia. In 2008, these plans will be expanded to include Vermont.
Aetna is the fastest growing health plan in percentage growth across all federal plans for the past four years. In addition, in 2007 Aetna began offering its standalone dental PPO plan nationwide through the Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program.
“We’ve seen tremendous interest from federal enrollees in our plan designs, benefits and the availability of important information to help make informed health care decisions,” said Bernatavitz.
“The PHR is another example of how Aetna is offering federal workers more value for their health care dollar.”
For more information on Aetna plans, visit www.aetnafeds.com.
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 34.9 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care and disability plans, and medical management capabilities. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans and government-sponsored plans. www.aetna.com