Aetna Continues National Dialogue to Improve Equality in Health Care, Honored in Washington for Efforts

HARTFORD, Conn., August 17, 2012 — Helping people from different races and backgrounds benefit from quality health care is one of Aetna’s top priorities.  Last week, Aetna (NYSE: ΑET) joined Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D, for a discussion about health care equality. Aetna was one of eight organizations that received recognition by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), together with the White House Business Council and the National Business Group on Health, for the company’s commitment to improving health care equality.

The talks focused on the following issues:

• Differences in health care among minority and non-minority groups
• Best practices that companies can use to help employees access equal levels of health care
• How to reduce gaps in health care outcomes

“We must continue to develop targeted programs that address differences in health care among people of different races and ethnic backgrounds,” said Aetna’s Wayne Rawlins, M.D., national medical director.  “We are pleased to have the opportunity to share ideas with the nation’s leaders in this area.”

Studies show that people in the United States of different racial and ethnic backgrounds tend to receive lower quality health care than non-minorities. This is true even when health insurance status and income levels are compared. To help fix this problem, Aetna’s health care equality programs include:

• Race and ethnicity information from nearly 6 million Aetna members who have voluntarily shared this data
• A dashboard that helps identify health conditions that are more common among ethnic and racial minority populations. This information is used to create targeted programs to improve health outcomes
• Aetna Employee Resource Groups who help increase understanding of cultural beliefs and possible barriers to health care

Visit the Racial and Ethnic Equality website for more information about Aetna’s efforts.

About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.7 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.