Aetna to Provide Assurant Health Customers Access to Flexible, Convenient Pharmacy Services

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced today a multi-year pharmacy benefit management agreement with Assurant Health, a leading provider of major medical, supplemental and fixed-benefit health plans for individuals, families and small employers. Aetna will deliver pharmacy benefit management solutions that will help manage costs and improve member health for Assurant Health’s customers in the 47 states in which they do business. Assurant Health customers will also benefit from Aetna’s agreement with CVS Caremark and their broad, national network of participating pharmacies, comprehensive pharmacy care support, and easy-to-use tools to manage their prescriptions. The agreement represents a full replacement of Assurant Health’s current pharmacy benefit manager for the majority of its customers, and will be effective on January 1, 2013.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to expand into a new marketplace and demonstrate the value of our integrated pharmacy benefit management capabilities,” said Laurie Brubaker, head of Aetna Pharmacy Benefit Management.

Assurant Health focuses on providing affordable health care coverage and services that help customers better manage their health care dollars.

“We understand consumers want clear information and tools to help them make cost-effective decisions when it comes to managing their health care budgets,” said Adam Lamnin, president and CEO of Assurant Health. “We are pleased that our customers will have access to tools through Aetna and CVS Caremark that will help them make the most of their prescription benefits.”

About Assurant Health

Assurant Health is the brand name for a family of health insurance products focused on providing a variety of affordable plan choices to consumers. The portfolio of health care products includes major medical, supplemental and fixed-benefit plans for individuals, families and small employers. Assurant Health is committed to providing access to convenient health care delivery, easy-to-understand products and value-added services that help customers better manage their health care dollars and get the most out of their coverage. Assurant Health’s products are underwritten and issued by John Alden Life Insurance Company, Union Security Insurance Company and Time Insurance Company, which has been in business since 1892. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Assurant Health employs approximately 2,000 employees. www.assuranthealth.com

Additional Company Information

Assurant Health is part of Assurant, a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and select worldwide markets. Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has approximately $27 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. www.assurant.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, 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, Medicaid health care management services and health information technology services. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.

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Health Language, Inc. Partners with Siemens Healthcare to Provide ICD-10 Implementation Services to Enterprise Clients

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Bloodletting May Provide Health Benefits for Obese

Some obese people may improve their health by donating blood, a preliminary study from Germany suggests.

In the study, obese people with metabolic syndrome who had blood drawn experienced a reduction in blood pressure, along with other changes that linked with a reduced risk of heart disease, the researchers said.

Metabolic syndrome is a collection of symptoms associated with heart disease, including high blood sugar, high blood pressure and low levels of "good" cholesterol. The syndrome has been linked with increased risks of stroke, coronary artery disease and Type 2 diabetes. The main treatment is weight loss.

The findings suggest doctors might consider blood donation as a possible treatment for people with metabolic syndrome who have above-normal iron levels (a common situation), said study researcher Andreas Michalsen, of the Charité-University Medical Centre in Berlin.

However larger trials are needed to confirm the results and evaluate the long-term risks of such a treatment, Michalsen said.

Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a general internist at Cambridge Health Alliance, said blood donation should not be recommended as a treatment for metabolic syndrome unless more studies are done.

"You want to know [that] it would make them live longer," or reduce the actual risk of heart attack and stroke, not just markers linked with those conditions, Cohen said.

Blood pressure drop

Previous studies have shown high iron levels are associated with metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes, the researchers said. And one small study found that bloodletting reduced blood pressure in patients with treatment-resistant high blood pressure. However, the effects of blood withdrawal on people with metabolic syndrome have not been rigorously examined.

Michalsen and colleagues randomly assigned 64 obese people with metabolic syndrome to have their blood drawn, or to receive no specific treatment. At the beginning of the study, those in the bloodletting group had 10 ounces (300 milliliters) of blood removed, and four weeks later, had another 8.5 to 17 ounces (250 to 500 ml) removed.

After six weeks, patients in the bloodletting group saw their systolic blood pressure drop by an average of 18 mmHg, from 148.5 mmHg to 130.5 mmHg. Systolic blood pressure (the "top" blood pressure number) is considered to be high if it is above 140 mmHg, and moderately high if it is between 120 and 140 mmHg.

In the nontreatment group, blood pressure was reduced, on average, from 144.7 mmHg to 143.8 mmHg.

Previous studies have found that a reduction in systolic blood pressure by 10 mmHg can lead to a 22 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack, heart failure and coronary artery disease, and a 41 percent reduction in stroke risk, the researchers said.

The new study also found bloodletting resulted in a significant decrease in heart rate and blood glucose levels, the researchers said.

Blood donation as a therapy?

Reducing the volume of blood through bloodletting would be expected to result in a decrease in blood pressure, Cohen said, but it's not clear if this approach could stabilize blood pressure in these patients,  and the long-term effects need to be studied.

The study researchers did not report whether study participants were taking medications that reduce blood pressure, Cohen said. If patients' blood pressure was not being treated properly to begin with, then the bloodletting may have had a greater effect on this group than it would on others, Cohen said.

The researchers also did not take into account any changes in lifestyle and eating habits that occurred during the study, which may have affected blood pressure.

"There's good stuff in our blood too, that we need to fight infections," Cohen said. "We can't assume that if you take out some bad stuff in a pint of blood, that you're not also taking out some good stuff."

Because metabolic syndrome is not contagious, blood donated from those with the condition would not pose health risks to those receiving it, Michalsen said.

Blood withdrawal is already used a treatment for some conditions, such as hemochromatosis, a condition that occurs when too much iron builds up in the body.

Pass it on: Blood withdrawal may reduce blood pressure in obese people with metabolic syndrome, but it's unclear if this proposed treatment would reduce the risk of conditions such as heart attack and stroke.

Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner.  Find us on Facebook.

Copyright 2012 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Health Plans Provide the Worst Customer Experience, According to New Temkin Group Research

WABAN, Mass., Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new research report published by Temkin Group, 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings, rates the customer experience of 206 large companies across 18 industries. This is the second year that Temkin Group has released these ratings.

The research, which is based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers in January 2012, includes 13 health plans. Kaiser Permanente was the top-rated health plan, the only plan to receive an "okay" rating, but it only ranked 87th in the overall ratings. TriCare, Medicare, Aetna, United Healthcare, Humana, Empire BCBS, Blue Shield of CA, and CIGNA all received "poor" ratings. Four plans received "very poor" ratings and are ranked in the bottom seven across all 18 industries: Highmark BCBS, Health Net, Medicaid, and Anthem BCBS.

Health plans represented the lowest-rated industry, and only one of three industries to receive an average rating of "poor." The industry, however, experienced a modest improvement between 2011 and 2012.

"It's troubling that only one health plan can even achieve an okay rating; the entire industry needs a customer experience wake-up call. While it's great to see some improvement, it's not enough," states Bruce Temkin, author of the report and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.

The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three dimensions of customer experience:

Functional: Does the company meet consumers' needs?Accessible: How easy is it for consumers to do what they are trying to do?Emotional: How do consumers feel about their interactions with companies?

Other highlights from the research include:

Kaiser Permanente and TriCare received the highest Functional ratings, while Highmark BCBS and Health Net received the lowest.Kaiser Permanente and Aetna received the highest Accessible ratings, while Medicaid, Health Net, and Highmark BCBS received the lowest.Kaiser Permanente and TriCare received the highest Emotional ratings, while Highmark BCBS and Health Net received the lowest.Ten health plans were included in both the 2011 and 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings. Kaiser Permanente had a double-digit improvement in its score while five other plans increased their score by five or more points: Anthem BCBS, Aetna, United Healthcare, CIGNA, and Humana.TriCare was the only health plan to slip by five points or more between 2011 and 2012, but Medicaid and Medicare also declined.

This report can be accessed from the Temkin Group website at http://www.temkingroup.com or from the blog, Customer Experience Matters, at http://experiencematters.wordpress.com. The data can be accessed from the Temkin Ratings website, http://www.temkinratings.com.

For more information about Temkin Group, visit http://www.temkingroup.com.

About the author, Bruce Temkin

Bruce is widely recognized as a customer experience thought leader and is Customer Experience Transformist and Managing Partner of the Temkin Group. He is also the author of a very popular blog, Customer Experience Matters. Prior to forming Temkin Group, he was a VP at Forrester Research for 12 years. Bruce is a highly demanded speaker who consistently receives high marks for his content-rich, entertaining keynote addresses. He is also the co-founder and Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management.

About Temkin Group

Temkin Group is a leading customer experience research and consulting firm with one simple goal for its clients: increase customer loyalty by becoming more customer-centric. The company combines customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of the dynamics of large organizations to help senior executives accelerate their customer experience results. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or info@temkingroup.com.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R).  For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

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InTouch Health and Platinum Training Partner to Provide a Comprehensive Suite of Remote Presence Video Collaboration ...

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Aegis Health Group Taps Technology to Expand Capabilities and Provide Solutions to Hospitals’ Business Development Needs

How to Play the 5 Big 'What Ifs' of 2012The Wall Street Journal

These five scenarios that could damage returns or lead to profit are keeping Wall Street awake at night

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Assurant Health Contracts With Aetna Signature Administrators® to Provide Consumers With Access to Expanded PPO ...

MILWAUKEE, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Assurant Health, a leading provider of major medical, supplemental and fixed-benefit health plans for individuals, families and small employers, announces an agreement with Aetna Signature Administrators, allowing current and prospective major medical customers of Assurant Health to access the Aetna Signature Administrators national PPO network.

Beginning in March, major medical customers of Assurant Health will be able to access care from more than one million health care providers and 7,500 hospitals nationwide within the Aetna Signature Administrators PPO network. Access to this network will enhance the competitiveness of Assurant Health for individuals, families and small groups. In addition, Aetna will provide utilization and case management services to Assurant members and share risk as part of a reinsurance agreement.

"This partnership with Aetna reaffirms the commitment of Assurant Health to ensuring our customers can access high-quality, affordable health care coverage," said Adam Lamnin, president and CEO of Assurant Health. "This is great for our customers and exciting for Assurant Health as we strengthen our position as a leading provider of individual and small group major medical insurance in the United States."

The multi-year agreement provides access to all current and future Assurant Health major medical individual and small group policyholders.

"Through Aetna Signature Administrators, members can gain access to a strong nationwide network of health care providers and important medical management services," said Ralph Borzillo, President of the Aetna Signature Administrators business. "We are excited to provide these critical services to Assurant Health's members."

About Assurant Health
Assurant Health is the brand name for a family of health insurance products focused on providing a variety of affordable plan choices to consumers. The portfolio of health care products includes major medical, supplemental and fixed-benefit plans for individuals, families and small employers. Assurant Health is committed to providing access to convenient health care delivery, easy-to-understand products and value-added services that help customers better manage their health care dollars and get the most out of their coverage—ultimately seeking to protect not only financial security but also the health and well being of its customers. Assurant Health's products are underwritten and issued by John Alden Life Insurance Company, Union Security Insurance Company and Time Insurance Company, which has been in business since 1892. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Assurant Health employs approximately 2,000 employees. www.assuranthealth.com

Assurant Health is part of Assurant, a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and select worldwide markets. Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and has approximately $27 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. www.assurant.com

About Aetna Signature Administrators
Aetna Signature Administrators provides access to a national PPO network, medical management services and stop loss or reinsurance coverage to third party administrators and health plans.  

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