Aetna Adds Aetna Whole Health Chicago To GetCoveredIllinois

Illinois businesses also to get access to high quality health care product

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Individuals and employers in Illinois looking for a new health plan will have access to greater choice during this year’s open enrollment. Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced that Aetna Whole Health Chicago will be available on GetCoveredIllinois for the 2016 open enrollment commencing November 1, as well as to Illinois businesses.

Aetna Whole Health Chicago is a commercial health care product that provides members with access to highly coordinated care that tracks outcomes, shares data and measures clinical standards to improve quality and efficiency. It provides consumers with more options on GetCoveredIllinois.

Aetna Whole Health Chicago will be available to individuals and businesses through Advocate Health Care’s broad network of 4,000 primary care physicians and specialists at 250 sites of care including 10 hospitals. Rush Health was the first Illinois hospital system to collaborate with Aetna on Aetna Whole Health Chicago for self-insured and fully insured businesses.

Individuals can purchase Aetna Whole Health Chicago as of November 1. Self-insured businesses looking to change plans from March 1, 2016 onwards and fully insured businesses looking to change plans from April 1, 2016 onwards can buy Aetna Whole Health Chicago as of January 1. It will be available to employers in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Kendall, Will, Kankakee, McHenry and individual members in DuPage, Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties.

“We are very pleased to be working closely with Advocate Health Care to deliver greater value, improved quality and better patient experience through Aetna Whole Health Chicago,” said Nitin Bhargava, president of Aetna’s Illinois operations. “Our members will have access to Advocate’s depth and breadth of clinical experience to help keep them healthier.”

“We are excited and thankful for the opportunity to have our physicians working with Aetna on Aetna Whole Health Chicago to deliver a better patient experience,” said Don Calcagno, interim president of Advocate Physician Partners. “We believe the foundation of this product aligns well with Advocate’s commitment to providing access to high quality, affordable and well-coordinated care to the communities we serve.”

New payment agreement to reward improvements in quality and cost of care
The agreement rewards Advocate Health Care physicians for meeting quality and efficiency measures, including:

• The percentage of Aetna members who get recommended preventive care and screenings;
• Better management of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart failure; and
• Decreasing avoidable emergency room visits and hospital readmissions through the proactive management by care teams.

Aetna is working with health care organizations nationwide to develop products and services that support value-driven, patient-centered care for health care consumers. Nationally today, about 3.2 million Aetna members receive care from doctors committed to the value-based approach, with 30 percent of Aetna claims payments going to doctors and providers who practice value-based care. Aetna has committed to increasing that number to 50 percent by 2018 and 75 percent by 2020.

About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 46.7 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, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna's 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 and learn about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews

About Advocate Health Care
Advocate Health Care is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. Advocate operates more than 250 sites of care and 12 hospitals, including five of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals, the state’s largest integrated children’s network, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), three Level II trauma centers, one of the area’s largest home health and hospice companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $783 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2014.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151021006334/en/

Aetna Media Contact

Rohan Hutchings, 773-687-5419

[email protected]

Source: Aetna Inc.