Aetna 2003 Annual Report Download - page 7

RESULTS
■ Aetna’s commercial risk
medical cost increases
slowed to 8 percent
in 2003.
■ We reduced expenses
by $194 million,
while continuing to
improve customer
satisfaction levels.
■ A steady stream of new
products and services
came out of our pipeline
to support our strategy.
5
ENHANCING OUR QUALITY-OF-CARE INITIATIVES
Using information to improve access to high-quality and safe
medical care for members was also foremost in our minds. In
2003, we began piloting an innovative network of specialist
physicians, called AexcelSM, based on evidence of quality health
care outcomes and cost-effectiveness of care delivery in general
surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, orthopedics, cardiology,
cardiothoracic surgery and gastroenterology.
Another effort was our innovative MedQuerySM program. This
program helps doctors identify opportunities to avert potential
medical errors, gaps and omissions in members’ health care by
providing physicians additional information they may not be
aware of and may want to consider in a patient’s treatment. To
date, we have identified more than 100,000 opportunities. We
also launched Aetna Rx CheckSM, a suite of six drug utilization
review programs designed to improve member safety by flagging
for physicians potentially harmful interactions, as well as identify
opportunities to reduce pharmacy costs for members.
Our disease management programs and new medical case
management initiatives are helping Aetna reduce claim costs
while facilitating members’ access to quality care. We were
very pleased when last October Aetna won the “Best Disease
Management Program in Managed Care” award from the
Disease Management Association of America for our chronic
heart failure program.
USHERING IN A ‘NEW ERA OF COOPERATION’
Finally, last year we ushered in a “new era of cooperation” with
the medical community. When we first embarked on our effort
to rebuild Aetna, one goal we laid out was to strengthen our
relationships with doctors. On May 22, 2003, we announced
an agreement with nearly 1 million physicians to settle a
national class-action lawsuit. In August, we reached a similar
agreement with the American Dental Association on behalf
of approximately 150,000 dentists.
We ushered in a “new era of cooperation” with the medical community.
Improved satisfaction among these constituents gives us a competitive
advantage in the marketplace, as well as a better opportunity to work
with them to improve health care costs, access and quality.