Products June 13, 2006

Aetna Expands Health Care Transparency Initiative

June 13, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Aetna has announced that it is expanding the health transparency initiative made available in Cincinnati last to include the clinical quality and efficiency of physicians, in addition to actual costs, and is rolling it out to more states and areas.
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According to the announcement, beginning August 18, consumers will be able to access price, clinical quality and efficiency information for more than 14,800 physicians in specified areas and pricing for more than 70,000 physicians. Consumers will also be allowed to access the 30 most accessed services based on physicians’ specialties and indicators such as adverse effects and overall efficiency using medical services.

Price, clinical quality and efficiency information will be available in the following areas:

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  • Connecticut
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Northern Virginia
  • Maryland
  • Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Springfield, Ohio
  • Northern Kentucky
  • Southeast Indiana 
  • South Florida.

The site will include only physicians’ prices for:

  • Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri
  • Las Vegas 
  • Pittsburgh.

Aetna’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Troyen Brennan said the company spoke with physicians who said their patients needed information about the overall value of aspects of health insurance, not just the cost, the announcement said.

On August 18, Aetna members can log onto Aetna Navigator at www.aetna.com ,  search for physicians on “DocFind” and chose “Provider Detail” to view rates specific to their health plans.

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