--Industry veteran will lead new business segment that offers health care providers the capabilities they need to form collaborative, accountable care models--
HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced the appointment of Charles Kennedy, M.D., to the new position of head of Aetna Aligned Care Solutions. Dr. Kennedy will lead this business segment focused on collaborating with high quality health systems to make the transformational changes needed in health care – changes that lead to higher quality, greater coordination, and an overall better patient health care experience.
“Patient-centered, collaborative care models are an important component of Aetna’s vision for a more connected and effective health care system,” said Charles E. Saunders, M.D., head of Strategic Diversification for Aetna. “Charles’ experience as a physician and leader in health information technology, together with Aetna’s extensive assets and capabilities, puts us in a unique position to help provider organizations transform patient care,” Saunders said.
Aetna is working with health care organizations to deploy capabilities that support all payers and patients – not just Aetna members. The Aetna models and capabilities are described on the company’s new aligned care website at www.aetnaacs.com. Aetna products and services that support value-driven, patient-centered, accountable care include:
- Commercial, Provider group employee plans, Medicare and Medicaid collaborations -- backed by payment models that support shared accountability for the health outcomes, patient satisfaction and overall efficiency of care
- Aetna-branded, co-branded and provider-sponsored health plans
- Health plan services, including licensing, actuarial and underwriting, and claims and member services
- Care management services
- Patient engagement programs and tools
- Health information exchange (HIE) and health information technology (HIT) capabilities through Medicity and ActiveHealth Management
- Clinical and analytics capabilities through Aetna, ActiveHealth Management and HDMS
- Consulting services based on years of experience in serving large, self-funded sponsors with custom health care products
“Health care is entering into an era of unprecedented change. New federal policies, such as the HITECH Act and the Affordable Care Act, unrelenting cost pressures, and a new willingness to embrace innovation have created significant clinical and financial opportunities for new leadership in the health care industry,” said Kennedy. “Aetna’s health information technology assets, efficient health plan services, and commitment to collaborate with physicians, hospitals, and medical groups in new ways will help transform health care into a more cost-efficient and effective industry.”
Dr. Kennedy is a recognized expert in health care and health information technology. He was a founding commissioner of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), the first organization recognized by the federal government to certify EMRs. He is currently the health insurance industry representative on the HIT Policy Committee, a Federal Advisory Committee that is guiding Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) policies to allocate $40 billion in federal funding for HIT deployment.
Dr. Kennedy joins Aetna from WellPoint Inc. where he was vice president of Health Information Technology. Prior to WellPoint, Dr. Kennedy served as chief executive officer at CareAssured, which he co-founded, and previously as director of Strategic Informatics at Blue Shield of California. Prior to Blue Shield, Dr. Kennedy served in consulting positions at Electronic Data Systems and its management consulting subsidiary, A.T. Kearney. He was on the medical staff at Kaiser Permanente and other Northern California medical facilities for seven years. He holds an M.D. in Internal Medicine from the University of California at Los Angeles, an MBA in Corporate Strategy and Health Care Economics from Stanford University, and a bachelor’s degree in Genetics from the University of California at Berkeley.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 33.8 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary 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.
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