• Fostering a culture of health care consumerism among all employees, beginning with senior executives
• Implementing a focused employee communication and education campaign
• Offering wellness programs and incentives for healthy behaviors, as well as 100 percent coverage for preventive care
• Carefully constructing a benefits package that includes appropriate levels of member responsibility

To identify the keys to success, Aetna conducted an in-depth review of six employers who experienced extraordinary results with their Aetna HealthFund plans. In fact, these employers achieved annualized health care cost trends that were 50 percent lower than the Aetna HealthFund average, resulting in a combined employer and employee savings of $15 million per 10,000 employees enrolled in an Aetna plan over a four-year period. Common among these employers was a benefits strategy that embraced the four keys to success.

"Aetna’s keys to consumer-directed success provide a road map for employers who want to control health care costs and engage employees in their health by offering a consumer-directed benefits strategy. We have thoroughly studied these members for five years and have developed keen insight into those aspects of the product that work and those that do not work well. This latest research simply validates what we’ve suspected all along — that while implementing these plans requires a commitment from both the employer and the employee the payoff is significant for those who embrace all the tools that influence health care consumerism," said Aetna President Mark T. Bertolini.

The six employer groups who achieved dramatic success with Aetna HealthFund represent a variety of industries including heavy manufacturing, personal health care services, and food and beverage production. Among them is Owens Corning, a Fortune 500 company and market-leading innovator of glass fiber technology. Owens Corning has offered an Aetna HealthFund Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) since 2004, and an Aetna HealthFund Health Savings Account (HSA) since 2007. More than 16,000 Owens Corning employees and their dependents are currently Aetna HealthFund members.

"Owens Corning began offering Aetna HealthFund in 2004 to help control health care costs while engaging our employees as partners in their own health. We’ve achieved both of these objectives but this is a continuous effort," said Mark Snyder, director, Employee Health, Wellness and Benefits, Owens Corning. "For Owens Corning, implementing a consumer-directed strategy reflects a long-term commitment to the health of our employees and their families. This has meant intensive employee education and communication along with benefits that encourage our employees to lead healthier lives — such as 100 percent coverage for preventive care and rewards for healthy behaviors and for completing a Health Risk Assessment." While the six case study employers achieved significant success, Aetna continued to see the positive impact of health care consumerism across all 1.6 million Aetna members studied. Specifically, employers who offered an Aetna HealthFund plan lowered their health care trend and saved money through all four years with the plan, across all Aetna products they offered. And, when compared to a control-matched preferred provider organization (PPO) population, the Aetna HealthFund members:

• spend 20 percent more on preventive care;
• maintain their utilization of drug therapies for chronic conditions, their access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and their levels of diabetic testing;
• use generic drugs more frequently; and
• are twice as likely to explore online information.

In addition, 52 percent of HRA members and 95 percent of HSA members carried over some or all of their fund into the next year.

"While the cost savings with an Aetna HealthFund plan can be significant, it’s important to note that savings are achieved while employees continue to use preventive and chronic care services, and increase their engagement in their own health. We think this represents a win-win for both employers and their employees," added Bertolini.

Aetna has studied claims and utilization for its Aetna HealthFund family of products since 2003. The latest study includes:

• A review of 130 employers who offered an Aetna HealthFund HRA plan beginning as early as January 1, 2003, and an Aetna HealthFund HSA plan beginning as early as January 1, 2005. These employers had a total of 205,000 employees (and their dependents) who chose Aetna HealthFund, and 1.4 million employees who chose another Aetna benefits plan. All 1.6 million members were studied to identify the impact of health care consumerism across all employees in a group, regardless of which plan they chose.
• A further review of data for six employers with more than 58,000 Aetna members (including 32,000 in Aetna HealthFund). These employers were studied to identify the keys to successful implementation of a consumer-directed benefits strategy.
• A comparison population of 1.2 million members enrolled in an Aetna PPO plan as of December 31, 2006. All research was conducted by Aetna’s in-house data measurement and actuarial units.

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.4 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, government-sponsored plans and expatriates. www.aetna.com