Aetna Dental Announces Agreement with Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Columbia to Provide Content Development, Research and Analysis and Continuing Education Courses

Aetna (NYSE:AET) today announced an expanded partnership with the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery that will strengthen the oral health information on the Aetna InteliHealth consumer information website and improve the effectiveness of Aetna's programs to enhance oral health.

Columbia will provide oral health content for Aetna InteliHealth's consumer dental health information website, available at www.dental.intelihealth.com. In addition, Columbia will work with Aetna's dental business to analyze aggregated medical and dental claims data of Aetna members to validate the impact of dental care on overall health outcomes.

"We see tremendous value in validating the correlation between oral and overall health. Our expanded relationship with Columbia will help us conduct new research on the relationship between dental care and certain health conditions," said Pat Farrell, head of Aetna Dental. "Aetna Dental previously worked with Columbia on research about ways dentists can help patients stop smoking. They helped develop continuing education courses for dentists on that topic. This new agreement strengthens our relationship and should benefit consumers, employers and dentists."

"We are looking forward to continuing our collaboration with Aetna Dental and to providing consumers with reliable and credible dental content through Aetna InteliHealth," said David A. Albert, DDS, associate professor of clinical dentistry at Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery. "This agreement allows Columbia's dental professors and students to gain experience developing information for consumers and providers and conducting research and analysis with Aetna."

Content Development

To help Aetna provide updated information to members and the public through Aetna InteliHealth's consumer dental health information website www.dental.intelihealth.com, Columbia will develop new content and expand existing content with the goal of demonstrating the connection between dental health and overall wellness. Aetna and Columbia will create content to increase consumers' understanding of dental prevention and treatment options so they can make more informed decisions about their dental care.

Columbia faculty members will lend their clinical expertise to the following consumer dental features on Aetna InteliHealth's dental health information website:

--Ask the Dentist feature: visitors to the website will have the opportunity to submit questions regarding dental health and medicine. On a weekly basis, Aetna and Columbia will select several questions and post the answers on the website.

--Health-related news: several times per month, faculty members will provide clinical review and input for written news stories.

--Dental health information: visitors to Aetna InteliHealth will have access to dental health content reviewed by the faculty at Columbia.

Research and Analysis

Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery also will provide analysis and research conclusions on quality management programs and current dental practice standards and convene dental expert panels to help Aetna Dental develop "best practices" to validate the mouth-body integration. In addition, Columbia will collaborate with Aetna on research opportunities and continue to create continuing education courses for dentists participating in Aetna's dental networks.

Aetna

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)

Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery

Since its inception in 1852 and its incorporation into Columbia University in 1917, the School of Dental and Oral Surgery (SDOS) has vigorously pursued its commitment to education, patient care and research. Recognizing the value to the public and the dental specialties, SDOS established the first formal specialty education program in orthodontics in the 1920s. SDOS went on to establish programs in periodontics, endodontics, oral/maxillofacial surgery, prosthodontics, pediatric dentistry and advanced programs. SDOS provides general dentistry, oral surgery, pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, and other clinic services to many members of the community through its Faculty Practice, Postgraduate and Specialty Practice, and Undergraduate Clinic. SDOS encourages and supports all forms of academic research efforts that have direct impact on improving oral health by fostering faculty and student participation in research and training students in current research methodologies.