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| [May 10, 2012] |
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Aetna and Banner Health Expand Accountable Care Relationship to Support More Than 200,000 Patients
HARTFORD, Conn. --(Business Wire)--
Aetna (NYSE: AET)
announced today it is expanding its relationship with Banner Health
Network to include full technology support for population health
management and patient services for more than 200,000 patients. The
agreement includes support for the 50,000 Medicare fee-for-service
patients covered under the Pioneer ACO shared savings program and
members in Aetna's ACO relationship with Banner Health Network.
Aetna will fully implement its broad "technology stack" and care
management services to support greater care quality, coordination and
convenience for these Banner Health doctors and their patients. The
agreement includes implementation of the following capabilities from
Aetna companies:
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Health information exchange technology from Medicity
to enable the secure, two-way exchange of health information across a
patient's entire care team, including hospitals, physicians, labs,
pharmacies and other ambulatory services;
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Active CareTeamSM from Active
Health Management to give physicians access to CareEngine®-powered,
point-of-care clinical decision support services and a desktop-based
workflow tool to track, monitor, coordinate and report on patient
health outcomes; and
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Smartphone and online appointment setting and pre-registration
services for patients through iTriage,
one of the most downloaded health and fitness apps in both the iTunes®
App store and Android (News - Alert)™ Market.
"In order to succeed in the delivery of high quality, high experience,
affordable care, we must integrate clinical activities across the
patient's continuum of care. This requires data sharing among our
providers, and the workflow integration that can result," said Dr.
Tricia Nguyen, Chief Medical Officer for Banner Health Network.
"Actionable data is the currency for change in healthcare."
"Today's traditional electronic medical records have limited value in
providing the level of clinical insights needed to succeed in
accountable care organizations," said Charles Kennedy, MD, chief
executive officer for Aetna Accountable Care Solutions. "Aetna
technologies marry clinical and claim information to create a broader
patient record available to the entire care team. Then we bring
evidence-based intelligence, workflow tools and care management services
to help physicians monitor, measure, coordinate and improve patient
care."
Banner Health Network is an Arizona patient care and business
partnership between Arizona Integrated Physicians, the Banner Medical
Group, the Banner Physician Hospital Organization and Banner
Health. More than 2,600 Banner-affiliated physicians in the Phoenix
metro area are part of the Banner Health Network. In December 2011, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center
announced it had selected the Banner Health Network as one of 32
organizations participating in the new Pioneer Accountable Care
Organizations (ACOs) initiative. The Pioneer ACO Model began January 1,
2012, and is one of several initiatives underway at CMS designed to
support the formation of ACOs.
The combination of technology and services from Medicity, ActiveHealth
and iTriage, all Aetna subsidiaries, represents the largest
implementation of Aetna's robust provider and patient technologies to
date. The combined Aetna technologies will complement existing Banner
technology to power a new level of clinical integration and convenience
in health care for these patients. The capabilities offered through the
Aetna companies are part of the Aetna Accountable Care Solutions suite
of services.
In November, Aetna and Banner announced the first stage of their accountable
care collaboration, which included the introduction of Aetna Whole
HealthSM, an ACO-based, commercial health care product for
small and middle market employers. Members in the Aetna Whole Health
plan will receive the same health IT-supported services, including the
iTriage appointment and pre-registration service.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits
companies, serving approximately 36.1 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, Medicaid health
care management services and health information technology services. 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.
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