Aetna Names CareCentrix Preferred Provider of Home Health Care Services in Florida

HARTFORD, Conn., Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Aetna (NYSE: AET) and CareCentrix announced today that Aetna has named CareCentrix as its preferred provider of home health care services to its 1.2 million members in Florida. Aetna has also contracted with CareCentrix to provide its members with access to a program focused on assisting them with transitioning from hospital care to home care, and consequently reducing the rising rate of hospital readmissions.

CareCentrix, the nation's leading provider of home health benefits management services, will work directly with Aetna's providers in Florida to coordinate home health care needs, consisting of skilled nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapy, aide services and medical social work services. Aetna's members also will have access to CareCentrix's Successful Transition And Recovery in the home program (HomeSTAR)™. This program offers specialized nursing support, telephonic coaching and telemonitoring to help patients safely transition from the hospital to their home. HomeSTAR has proven to reduce the number of people being readmitted to the hospital, which recent studies estimate to be as high as one in five nationally. Some exclusions will apply.

"Aetna is very pleased to announce this affiliation with CareCentrix," said Dr. Robert Kropp, Aetna's Southeast Region medical director. "People are living longer today, and they are more likely to need home health care services at some point. CareCentrix will help assure that our Florida members receive access to high-quality home care, while improving quality by reducing patients' risk for readmission."

"We are excited to collaborate with one of the nation's leading health care benefits companies to promote affordable access to health care and combat the rising problem of people being readmitted to the hospital," said Dr. William Kerr, chief medical officer, CareCentrix. "Our HomeSTAR program is built upon industry best practices that, coupled with our home health care expertise, is reducing hospital readmissions and enabling people to successfully recover at home. We believe home health care can play a leading role in helping Aetna's members achieve better health outcomes at an improved cost."

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.5 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 and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.

About CareCentrix

Founded in 1996, CareCentrix manages home nursing, infusion and medical equipment services for more than 30 million people across the country through a network of over 7,000 credentialed home care providers. The company provides health care plans and providers with a one-stop solution that coordinates care for patients in the home including skilled nursing services, durable medical equipment and home infusion drug therapies. CareCentrix recently introduced a program, HomeSTAR™, that will help payers and providers reduce the rising rate of hospital readmissions. The company has secured contracts with leading health plans that have increased its contracted revenue from $300 million in 2008 to approximately $750 million in 2011. CareCentrix is headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, and has operations in Melville, New York; Phoenix, Arizona; Tampa, Florida; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Overland Park, Kansas. CareCentrix is a company of Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic private equity firm focused exclusively on health care. For more information about CareCentrix visit www.carecentrix.com.

SOURCE CareCentrix