Aetna and Silverlink Selected as Finalists in 2012 TripleTree iAwards for Innovative Program to Help Members Better Manage Diabetes

HARTFORD, Conn. & BURLINGTON, Mass., May 23, 2012 — Aetna (NYSE: ΑET) and Silverlink Communications, Inc. today announced that their SMS text program for members diagnosed with diabetes has been selected as a finalist in the 2012 TripleTree iAwards for Wireless Health. The companies are among 12 finalists out of 160 nominated companies and their joint program is being recognized for excellence in the category of best consumer experience.

The TripleTree iAwards recognize and reward exceptional companies that are demonstrating insight, innovation, and initiative in the healthcare industry. The award is focused on transformative solutions that are shaping the future of healthcare.

The Aetna and Silverlink program helps members diagnosed with diabetes take charge of their health and better manage this increasingly pervasive chronic condition. Participants receive weekly text messages that deliver important education and support including diet and exercise tips; the importance of getting needed tests and screenings; and reminding participants to take their medications as prescribed.

“Managing a chronic condition like diabetes has to fit in and keep pace with today’s increasingly busy lifestyles,” said Susan Kosman, R.N., Aetna chief nursing officer. “Statistics show that two-thirds of Americans use text messaging on a daily basis. Texting reaches people in ways that are even more convenient and easy for them. Tools and information that can help members make better informed decisions about their health care will be delivered to their fingertips anywhere they go.”

“Communications is the foundation of good health,” says Dr. Jan Berger, chief medical officer of Silverlink, “and text messaging is playing an increasingly important role as an effective communications mode to drive health behaviors. We’re honored to be working with Aetna on this important program, which empowers individuals with diabetes to better manage their care.”

TripleTree will announce the winners at the 7th annual Wireless Health Convergence Summit, May 23-24 in San Diego, California.

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. 

About Silverlink
At Silverlink, we get that health and healthcare costs – which are enormous, in both size and significance – are actually the sum of millions of individual decisions. When one person decides to smoke, another gets a cancer screening, a third abandons diabetes medication – these are the individual behaviors that taken together make up the state of our nation’s health and the costs associated with it. That is why, when Silverlink set out to transform healthcare, we went right to the individual. Our entire focus, our mission, and our method are about helping move individual people in small, healthier ways – the cumulative effect of which can save millions of lives and billions of dollars. To learn more about what makes Silverlink the leader in consumer health engagement, please visit www.silverlink.com, email info@silverlink.com, or call 1.781.425.5700.

Silverlink is a registered trademark of Silverlink Communications, Inc. All other brand and product names contained in this release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.