MARLTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Virtua Health, the largest health care provider in South Jersey, announced that they will collaborate in a new Accountable Care Organization (ACO) aimed at improving the quality of patient care, creating new choices for consumers, and lowering overall health care costs.
Virtua Physician Partners, a clinically integrated network of community physicians affiliated with Virtua, will drive efforts to optimize efficiency, coordinate care, and improve communication with patients and providers.
The Aetna/Virtua collaboration will provide consumers with better health care options by:
- developing co-branded commercial health care plans for businesses and consumers;
- offering a competitive and affordable plan that will save consumers money, and;
- improving health care outcomes.
The Aetna Whole Health-Virtua plan will be introduced in South Jersey later this year, and will use Virtua’s community-based health system of hospitals, outpatient facilities, urgent care centers, and health and wellness centers supported by the Virtua Physician Partners network of community physicians.
“We are very pleased to introduce this agreement with Aetna and develop a shared vision of health care,” said Virtua President and CEO Richard P. Miller. “This collaboration will offer value-based care in the South Jersey region that reflects Virtua’s standards for quality and affordability.”
”Aetna is working to produce more healthy days for its members,” said Michael Costa, executive director for Aetna’s New Jersey market. “We’re moving toward new arrangements that reward hospitals and doctors for providing better, more efficient care, rather than simply more care. We’re excited to announce this collaboration with Virtua.”
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified
health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 46.5 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, workers'
compensation administrative services and health information technology
products and services. Aetna's 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
and learn
about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews
About Virtua
As one of New Jersey’s largest health systems,
Virtua helps people be well, get well and stay well through a
comprehensive range of health care services. Services are delivered
through three health and wellness centers, two ambulatory care centers,
three fitness centers, three acute care hospitals, primary and specialty
physician practices with 287 physicians plus 87 additional
practitioners, urgent care centers, 11 ambulatory surgery centers, home
health services, two long-term care and rehabilitation centers, 12
paramedic units and a wide range of outpatient services. A leader in
maternal and child health services, Virtua delivers more than 8,000
babies a year. Virtua also provides employment and wellness services to
1,700 businesses and corporations. An innovator in clinical and
information technology such as electronic medical records, Virtua is
recognized for its ground-breaking partnerships with GE
Healthcare, Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn
Medicine. Virtua employs more than 8,700 people and has been honored
as the #1 Best Place to Work in the Delaware Valley every year since
2007. It is the recipient of the Consumer Choice Award from the National
Research Corporation. For more information, visit www.virtua.org
or www.virtuabroadcastnetwork.org.
