Aetna Ranked Tops In Connecting With Doctors

HARTFORD, Conn., May 25, 2011 — Aetna’s (NYSE:ΑET) 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.