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HUNTINGTON, W.Va., August 23, 2017 – Aetna Better Health^® of West Virginia and Marshall Health today announced a number of achievements in health care quality after the first year of their collaboration, which uses innovative data-sharing technology as well as care management and coordination resources to drive high-quality, positive health outcomes. 

“This collaborative effort demonstrates the positive outcomes that can be achieved for West Virginia residents when insurers and health care providers work together,” said Dr. Donald Gibbon, Chief Medical Officer for Aetna Better Health of West Virginia. “Aetna Better Health of West Virginia and Marshall Health will continue to work together to develop efficient strategies for closing gaps in care.”

“Our collaboration with Aetna has only enhanced the delivery of care to our pediatric and obstetrics patient populations,” said Kelli L. Pasquale, BSN-RN, patient centered medical home manager for Marshall Health. “It is another mechanism that ensures our patients receive patient-centered, comprehensive and coordinated care.”

Aetna Better Health of West Virginia serves more than 6,400 members at Marshall Health facilities in Cabell and Wayne counties. The agreement between the two organizations began in mid-2015.

As part of the relationship between the two companies, an Aetna Better Health of West Virginia nurse case manager works onsite at Marshall Health’s high-risk obstetrics clinic. The case manager supports members with high-risk pregnancies and works with the Marshall Health high-risk OB team to coordinate the member’s care and encourage member compliance with the plan of care outlined by the Marshall Health clinicians. HEDIS^® 2017 data showed that Marshall Health improved their postpartum care visit rate by more than 12 percentage points.

During its inaugural year, the collaboration included special clinic days set aside to encourage teenagers to receive annual adolescent well-child checkups. Aetna Better Health of West Virginia was onsite to provide the teenagers who attended with a backpack filled with age-appropriate gifts such as writing journals and drawstring gym bags, while their parents received a $25 gift card at the time of completion of the visit. Through these activities as well as ongoing data-sharing to identify gaps in care, Marshall Health saw an increase of more than 12 percentage points in their adolescent well-child checkup rate.

Additionally, Marshall Health showed an improvement of more than 7 percentage points in their monitoring of patients on persistent medications. The resulting quality score improvements led to Marshall Health being recognized as one of Aetna Better Health’s All-Star Quality of Care Practices for 2017.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 44.7 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, read more here and learn about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world.

About Marshall Health

Marshall Health is the faculty practice plan of Marshall University and its Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, making it the region’s only academic health system. With more than 250 physicians, 65 areas of primary and advanced care and 25 outpatient clinic locations, Marshall Health is also the largest, most comprehensive health care provider in the tri-state region. To learn more, visit marshallhealth.org.