Aetna Mail-order Pharmacy, Aetna Rx Home Delivery, Hits Milestone Of 500,000 Monthly Prescriptions
Planning for second facility is under way
KANSAS CITY, Mo., November 16, 2004 ― Aetna (NYSE: ΑET) today said its mail-order pharmacy business, which the company has been operating for just over 18 months, filled 502,894 prescriptions last month, an almost eight-fold increase from initial production levels.
Aetna purchased Aetna Rx Home Delivery’s mail-order pharmacy in Kansas City from Eckerd Health Services in early 2003, as part of a strategy to further manage drug expenditures for clients and profitably grow its pharmacy benefit management business by providing employers with more effective integration of health care and pharmacy benefits.
Eric Elliott, president of Aetna Pharmacy Management (APM), said the growth of the mail-order facility has been so significant that the company is planning to establish a second mail-order facility in 2005. "The performance of our mail-order business and staff has been outstanding on all levels. We have improved operational quality metrics even as our year-over-year monthly prescriptions filled for October increased by 104 percent."
When APM first began operating the former Eckerd pharmacy in February 2003, prescription monthly volumes were 67,000 and there were 100 employees. Today, there are approximately 500 employees working three shifts and the volume has increased to more than half a million monthly.
Aaron Crosson, general manager of Aetna Rx Home Delivery, said October was a month for milestones, with the highest single day and week-long production levels. Despite the growth and fast pace, Crosson said his organization continues to focus on quality and accurate prescription dispensing metrics to ensure excellent customer service.
As one of the nation’s leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately 13.6 million medical members, 11.6 million dental members, 8.3 million pharmacy members and 13.3 million group insurance members to help them make better informed decisions about their health care and protect their finances against health-related risks. Aetna provides easy access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of more than 646,000 health care professionals, including over 385,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 3,908 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of September 30, 2004)
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