Aetna is committed to helping people in the communities we serve live more healthful lives. We have a long history of helping to improve the health of communities across the country through our philanthropic efforts and business initiatives. Increasingly, we are having an even deeper impact by working to develop a broader sense of responsibility, inside and outside of Aetna, toward the consumption of our valued resources.

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  Our telework program saved 3.3 million gallons of gasoline – preventing more than 29,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions
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  Created in 2010, this program helps researchers, doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows from underrepresented minority groups further their professional development in health disparities and health services research
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  We saved 6.4 million kilowatt hours across the enterprise over three years
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  We saw a decline in energy consumption at ALL of our largest owned facilities

Protecting resources and reducing waste to promote more healthful communities

Our goals include working hard to avoid waste and protect the resources we enjoy, whether in the increasingly costly world of health care services or the natural world around us. A key focus is on reducing the waste that accounts for up to half of all health care spending in America today. As an example, Aetna is pairing safety with policy requirements that promote patient-safety vigilance among health care facilities and physicians. Our Serious Reportable Events and Never Events policies require health care facilities, physicians, and other health care professionals to take action in preventing medical errors; and changes the way they are paid when medical errors occur. And, we are giving members more information to help them promote their own safety. Through informational tools and programs, we are enabling our own employees and members to take charge of their own health, and be part of the solution.

Similarly, we are helping to make the health of our environment more sustainable. We reached some important milestones in this regard in 2010:

• We saw a decline in energy consumption at all of our largest owned facilities.
• We saved 6.4 million kilowatt hours across the enterprise over three years.
• Our telework program eliminated an estimated 79 million miles of commuting by employees, saving 3.3 million gallons of gas and preventing more than 29,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
• We also are using our influence with our key suppliers to implement a sustainability framework, featuring ongoing dialogue with suppliers about sustainability issues and performance measurement over a broad array of sustainability categories.

As always, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation continue to make a real difference in the lives of Americans across the country; committing, for example, more than $1 million to obesity research in 2010 and 2011. In 2010, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation awarded more than $15.6 million in grants and sponsorships. Our employees are just as committed to making a difference, donating an additional $6.9 million and volunteering more than 334,000 hours of their time to helping their neighbors.

Social responsibility remains ingrained in our culture. We will continue to challenge ourselves to do more to encourage the responsible use of resources and improve the health of Americans everywhere.