Aetna Adds Four New Adventist Health System Hospitals

Business Wire, Feb 26, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Adventist Health System announced today that they have reached agreement on a new contract that adds four new Adventist hospitals to Aetna’s provider networks in the Central Florida and Tampa Bay/West Central Florida areas. The new contract took effect last month.

Under the agreement, the following facilities will be joining Aetna’s provider network: Florida Hospital Waterman; Heartland Medical Center; Florida Hospital Lake Placid and Florida Hospital Wauchula.

“We are pleased to be a participating provider for Aetna members at all 18 Florida Hospital locations,” said John Brownlow, senior vice president of managed care at Adventist.

Members of Aetna’s network-based plans will be able to receive covered in-patient and out-patient services, at in-network rates, from all four facilities. The contract also applies to the system’s affiliated physicians.

“Aetna is delighted to announce the addition of these four new hospitals,” said Jim McCunney, Aetna’s network vice president for the Central Florida area. “We strive to provide our members with broad access to high-quality hospitals and physicians, and we’re pleased to expand that access in the Central and West Central Florida areas.”

Aetna provides and administers health benefits to more than 625,000 members in Central and West Central Florida. Those members have access to a contracted network of more than 95 hospitals, and more than 13,000 primary care physicians and specialists.

About Florida Hospital

Opened in 1908, Florida Hospital is one of the largest not-for-profit hospitals in the country, caring for more than 1 million patient visits per year – that’s more than any other hospital in the country, according to the American Hospital Association. The more-than-2,000-bed system, comprised of eight hospitals and 18 Centra Care locations, has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best hospitals in the country for the past 10 years.

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 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.