Aetna Signs Agreement with Crucial Care in Jacksonville

-- Urgent Care Operation Provides Cost-Effective ER Alternative --

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced that it has signed a contract with Crucial Care’s Southside facility to provide urgent care services to its members in the Jacksonville area. The contract took effect April 15.

Aetna is the largest North Florida insurer to contract with Crucial Care, which offers access to emergency medicine doctors and comprehensive medical treatments for both minor and serious high-acuity medical cases. Members who use the center will be charged an urgent care co-payment, as opposed to the considerably more expensive emergency room co-payment.

“Crucial Care is an important addition to our North Florida network,” said Tom Nasby, Aetna’s head of network operations for the Jacksonville market. “Their experience in handling urgent-care cases will help our members receive quality care at a significantly lower cost than going to a hospital emergency room. There are several serious conditions that, while needing immediate attention, can be more efficiently managed in an urgent care setting. Crucial Care has demonstrated the ability to handle those patients efficiently and with excellent health outcomes.”

In addition to its staff of emergency medicine doctors, Crucial Care offers extensive radiology services, including CT and ultrasound capability, and a lab capable of running acute tests. The facility works with physicians to directly admit patients to the hospital when appropriate, and also will set up appointments for follow-up care within the Aetna network.

“Aetna understands the value in the services we are able to provide,” said Mike Shumer, president of Crucial Care. “They are fundamentally focused on improving the health care system, and this agreement is a validation that we are both making great progress in providing the quality of health care services people deserve.”

About Crucial Care

Crucial Care is a health care facility with emergency medicine doctors on staff to provide comprehensive medical treatment for everything from the common cold to life-threatening conditions. It also provides innovative billing structures and effective, cost-conscious health care alternatives for employers. For more information, visit CrucialCareJax.com.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.1 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, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.



CONTACT:

Aetna
Walt Cherniak, 410-691-1405
[email protected]

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