Aetna Announces It Will Open Second Mail-Order Facility in 2005 To Meet Pharmacy Management Business Growth.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Aetna (NYSE:AET) today announced its pharmacy management business will open its second prescription mail-order facility, this one in Pompano Beach, outside of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to meet the needs of the growing business. The home delivery facility is expected to begin shipping prescription medications in 2005 and will employ up to 800 people in Florida.

"The new mail-order pharmacy will have state-of-the-art, automated equipment and be able to fill 20 million prescriptions annually, which is three times the capacity of our present operations," said Eric Elliott, head of Aetna Pharmacy Management (APM). "Our pharmacy management business has experienced tremendous growth and the new facility will help us serve additional membership and provide business continuity support going forward. This will be another first-class operation that will strengthen our position for anticipated growth in the marketplace."

Aetna Rx Home Delivery's second mail-order pharmacy will be housed in an 112,000-square-foot building in the Pompano Business Center. Elliott said the new site will be the regional headquarters for Aetna's mail-order distribution, the national mail-order customer service and call center for the business, and will house other call center functions for the pharmacy management business. Additionally, the expanded capacity will help APM meet new business initiatives, like the 2006 Medicare expansion, Elliott said. Aetna has announced it intends to become a national provider of the new Medicare prescription drug plan.

Mail-Order business continues rapid expansion

Aetna launched its mail-order delivery business in February 2003, by purchasing a facility located outside of Kansas City, Mo., from Thrift Drug Inc., then part of Eckerd Health Services. At the business launch, Aetna Rx Home Delivery was filling 67,000 prescriptions per month. APM is now filling more than 500,000 prescriptions monthly, a more than seven-fold increase.

"By the end of 2005 we can expect to be nearing capacity at our Kansas City facility. This new operation is an excellent geographic and operational fit," said Aaron Crosson Sr., head of Aetna Rx Home Delivery.

The Pompano Beach site was chosen following a national search. Factors leading to the decision include the fact that Florida has four well-respected pharmaceutical schools that should serve to provide a pipeline of highly qualified and trained workers. In addition, Aetna has more than one million health members and more than 800,000 pharmacy benefit members in Florida and the proximity will help reduce shipping time to those members, Crosson said.

Pompano Beach is second APM plant to locate in Florida in the past year

Aetna and Priority Healthcare Corp. announced March 1 that its joint venture, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy, opened a 63,000-square-foot distribution center in the Sunport Center complex in Orlando, Fla., just west of Orlando International Airport. The facility will be a fully operational specialty pharmacy distribution center with patient support, pharmacy, nursing education and counseling.

The new operation has begun distributing specialty pharmaceuticals and biomedical therapies for the chronically ill. Aetna Specialty Pharmacy will have approximately 250 employees by year end.

As one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately 13.7 million medical members, 11.9 million dental members, 8.4 million pharmacy members and 13.5 million group insurance members to help them make better informed decisions about their health care and protect their finances against health-related risks. Aetna provides easy access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of more than 655,000 health care professionals, including over 390,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 3,937 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of December 31, 2004)