A recent Aetna analysis demonstrates that employee benefits work even better when they work together. Our studies show that an integrated benefits package that includes Aetna medical, pharmacy and disease management benefits yields positive results for our members, as measured by significant improvements in certain health indicators, as well as substantial medical cost savings for their employers. Compared with medical programs alone, fully integrated Aetna plans and programs:

• Create a unique view of member health experience
• Close health care system gaps between ideal and actual care
• Lower health care costs

Integration Study
Aetna conducted a study in 2005 through its health informatics subsidiary, Aetna Integrated Informatics, to learn more about the care patterns, health outcomes and health care costs of members who participate in benefit plans that are integrated vs. those that are not.

As part of the analysis, Aetna grouped together similar member populations with different benefit packages. The comparison groups included one group with just Aetna medical benefits, a second with Aetna medical and pharmacy, a third with Aetna medical and disease management benefits, and a fourth with a fully integrated Aetna benefits package that included all three - medical, pharmacy and disease management benefits.

Results
Compared with member groups that had only Aetna medical benefits, the group that had the fully integrated Aetna package had:

• 46 percent fewer hospital admissions related to asthma, CHF and diabetes.
• 52 percent fewer emergency room visits related to asthma, CHF and diabetes.
• 20 percent lower medical costs associated with these costly, prevalent medical conditions.
• 23 percent more recommended monitoring tests associated with their chronic conditions, per year.

Improved Health and Costs
An integrated benefits package enables Aetna to identify and reach out to members earlier, and engage them in services that can:

• Improve their understanding of their health status.
• Improve their understanding of how to properly manage their condition on a daily basis.
• Improve their adherence to their doctor-prescribed treatment plan.
• Enable better day-to-day control of the condition and avoid preventable exacerbation of health issues.
• Optimize the member's individual health status.
• Lower overall group medical costs (0.5 percent), and specifically lower medical costs for those with the highest illness burden (at least 20 percent).

Maximizing Value
When Aetna's products and programs are integrated, we are able to:

• find earlier and contact more members with targeted diseases
• facilitate testing to prevent disease progression
• reduce hospital admissions and ER use
• reduce medical costs for asthma, diabetes and heart failure by at least 20 percent
• reduce total medical costs by 0.5 percent

For more information, brokers and producers should visit Producer World.

Aetna Integrated Informatics® study (1/06) of 159,105 enrolled members (claims period: 7/03 - 6/04).

*Risk-adjusted per member, per month costs for 3291 members identified with one or more of the following: Asthma, Chronic Heart Failure and Diabetes. Does not guarantee similar results for any particular employer. Savings will vary based upon disease prevalence and other factors.