Aetna Wins Health Plan Disease Management Leadership Award.

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Disease Management Association of America Honors Aetna's Initiatives To Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care

Aetna (NYSE:AET) today announced significant recognition of its efforts to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Aetna has won the Disease Management Association of America's (DMAA) Health Plan Disease Management Leadership Award, sponsored by American Healthways.

According to the DMAA (www.DMAA.org) the award recognizes a health plan that has demonstrated leadership and innovation in disease management on a level that has significantly helped to shape the industry. Award criteria included the demonstration of leadership, innovation, outcomes-based orientation and impact.

"Aetna's efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care represent an extensive commitment across our organization, and this award further confirms and celebrates our national leadership in this area," said John W. Rowe, M.D., chairman and CEO of Aetna. "We are proud of our efforts to address these disparities and encourage others to join us in the effort to ensure that differences in race or ethnicity do not translate into differences in the quality of care patients receive."

Aetna launched a multi-dimensional initiative to develop and implement programs aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care in 2001. The initiative is focused on improving community and individual health by building new partnerships and stimulating innovation and change.

Aetna has developed a number of innovative health and disease management programs aimed at reducing these disparities, including:

--A targeted maternity management program that focuses on the risk of premature labor and delivery in the African-American population.

--A breast health initiative to identify African-American and Hispanic/Latina women who have not obtained their annual screening mammograms as recommended by the American Cancer Society.

--Studies with two academic institutions to examine barriers that may be contributing to the disparity in outcomes of treatment for diabetes among African-Americans and Latinos, and hypertension among African-Americans.

--An initiative to improve health care literacy, communication and cultural barriers in health care among Spanish-speaking members employed by Marriott International in Houston and Miami.

--Aetna's internal cultural competency training program, already provided to more than 95 percent of our nurses and physicians, to increase awareness of cultural disparities and improve the way Aetna assists members in navigating the health care system.

"Our goals are to improve the quality of health care access and services for all the unique groups we serve and to provide a model for responsible, innovative and sustained health plan leadership that can be applied by other health plans, our industry and even other industries across the nation," said William C. Popik, M.D., Aetna's chief medical officer. "Ultimately, we seek to effect true change in our health care system, and this award recognizes and celebrates our efforts, with a particular focus on the health and disease management programs we have developed."

Aetna's initiative involves research, education, data collection and supporting programs designed to achieve a better understanding of disparities among racial and ethnic groups. To date, over one million members have volunteered their race and ethnicity information to Aetna via enrollment forms or on our secure member website, Aetna Navigator(TM), at www.aetna.com. Collection of this information supports the delivery of targeted education, outreach, quality improvement, culturally appropriate disease management programming and community initiatives. Aetna also has invested millions of dollars in Regional Community Grants Programs focused in this arena.

Aetna's health care disparities initiative is also advised by an External Advisory Committee that includes notable leaders from Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the RAND Corporation, and the University of Rochester.

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 13.6 million medical members, 11.6 million dental members, 8.3 million pharmacy members and 13.3 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 646,000 health care professionals, including over 385,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 3,908 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of September 30, 2004)