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News in brief - May 5, 2008

Aetna wins major corporate contract - Regence, Tenn. Blues buy IT company - EMR disease system tested

Aetna wins major corporate contract

As part of a complete overhaul of its U.S. employees' benefits, Bank of America will replace dozens of insurance carriers with a package of products from Aetna. The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer expects to add 350,000 employees and their dependents based on the deal, Aetna spokesman Fred Laberge said.

Aetna will provide not only medical, but also dental, vision, disability and life insurance to Bank of America employees and their families across the country. Previously, Aetna was just one of several carriers providing benefits to the bank's employees.

Laberge said the company does not disclose the value of contracts. The contract is renewable annually, he said, but, "we hope this will be a long-term relationship."

Corporate analysts have said the ability to get national deals is one reason plans pursued acquisitions aggressively over the last decade.

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Regence, Tenn. Blues buy IT company

Regence Group, an Oregon insurance company, and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee are joining a private equity firm in purchasing TriZetto Group, a health information technology firm.

TriZetto, based in Newport Beach, Calif., provides technology to health plans and benefit administrators that the company says touches half the insured population of the U.S.

Apax Partners, a British firm with offices around the world, will take TriZetto private in a deal estimated at $1.4 billion, subject to regulatory OK.

Regence is the parent company of Blues plans in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Regence and the Tennessee Blues are customers of TriZetto.

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EMR disease system tested

Researchers at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Harvard Medical School, Atrius Health and the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health have created computer programs that use electronic medical records to detect and report contagious illnesses.

A pilot of the system, called the Electronic Medical Record Support for Public Health, or ESP, was installed at Atrius Health, a multispecialty practice with 30 locations in Eastern Massachusetts, in January 2007.

Researchers said they found the system substantially increased both the number of reported infections and the completeness of information sent to the health department.

Alfred DeMaria Jr., MD, director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health, said in a statement that despite the increased use of EMRs, disease reporting is still frequently done by paper. "ESP offers the promise of more rapid detection of threats to the public health. This would allow faster action to prevent further transmission of infection."

The system is designed to report seven infections: active tuberculosis, acute hepatitis A, acute hepatitis B, acute hepatitis C, Chlamydia, gonorrhea and pelvic inflammatory disease. The research team is working to develop methods to detect and report additional infections.

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