9.13.2006 - 01:29pm ET

(CSRwire) HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 2006--Aetna (NYSE:AET) announced today that it has been awarded the prestigious "Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award" by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its efforts to reach across cultural divides and provide members with culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services.

As part of its overall efforts to enhance quality of care, Aetna has developed a coordinated, multi-dimensional program to address health disparities. To learn more, please visit our web site to watch a new video Aetna has produced on the topic, Closing the Health Care Gap: Aetna's Call to Action, available at: http://www.aetna.com/about/aoti/aetna_perspective/healthcare_disparities.html (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) With this award, NCQA is honoring one of the most critical components of Aetna's efforts to address racial and ethnic disparities: the collection of race, ethnicity, and language preference data from members on a voluntary, self-identification basis.


"Aetna has created a model for plans nationwide to follow on how to bridge language and cultural gaps that so easily get in the way of quality health care," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane. "The Voluntary Race/Ethnicity and Language Data Collection Program is an innovative approach that is helping Aetna tackle the very real issue of health care disparities among racial and ethnic minorities."

Aetna was among the first health plans to capture self-reported race/ethnicity and language preference data. Beginning in the fall of 2002 the company launched an on-going strategy to collect this data, including the mechanisms for members to submit this information and safeguards to protect it. As of September 2006, nearly 3.9 million members have volunteered their race/ethnicity information.

"Aetna puts this critical information to work along with other member health data to develop and deliver targeted programs to help address health issues that are prevalent among specific racial/ethnic groups," said Charles M. Cutler, M.D., head of National Quality Management for Aetna. "The collection of this data helps Aetna to identify differences in quality of care measures across racial/ethnic groups and, importantly, to debunk the myths that legal impediments or negative public reaction will occur when plans collect this information."

According to the acclaimed 2002 Institute of Medicine study, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, minorities in the U.S. tend to get lower quality health care than whites, even when such factors as medical conditions, insurance and economic status are equivalent.

Details of Aetna's program will be shared at two one-day national conferences on multicultural healthcare to be held on September 14, in Redondo Beach, Calif., and on October 18, in Washington, D.C.

The award arose from projects conducted by NCQA-- with major funding from The California Endowment and support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services -- to investigate the feasibility for health plans to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care and to monitor health care disparities using clinical quality data.

For information about the other health plans recognized by NCQA and the conferences on multicultural health care, visit www.ncqa.org/Education/index.htm.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 29.9 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, long-term care and disability plans, and medical management capabilities. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans and government-sponsored plans. www.aetna.com.

NCQA, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality, accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS(C), the tool the nation's health plans use to measure and report on their performance. For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.

The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. For more information, visit www.calendow.org.



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