Aetna Announces Plans To Offer New Online Search Engine To Provide Members With Access to Medical Information
Aetna officials on Wednesday announced plans to offer a new online search engine that will allow members to access at no cost medical information, information on local physicians who can address their needs and cost information based on their medical histories and coverage levels, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/12). Aetna developed the service, called SmartSource, in partnership with Healthline Networks. The insurer is using information about members' medical claims and diagnostic tests, as well as the topics they have searched for, to tailor SmartSource searches.Aetna, which will offer the service to employers that purchase health insurance through the company, hopes to use the program to attract and retain business from companies with concerns about health care costs (Freudenheim, New York Times, 3/12). About 30,000 Aetna employees have tested the service, and the company plans to expand the service to about two million members by the end of 2008 as part of a pilot program before an expansion to all 16.8 million members (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/12).
According to Meg McCabe, vice president for online programs at Aetna, the service is secure, and the company will not use any information related to the service to increase or reduce premiums or reject membership applications. McCabe said, "We make sure the information is secured and shared, based on the member's purposes," adding, "We need to develop a relationship with our members based on trust" (New York Times, 3/12).
The service "is part of an emerging trend among Internet companies offering consumers ways to get health information and store their medical health records online" and is "related to a larger effort promoted by the federal government to get doctors and hospitals to abandon their paper medical files in favor of electronic records-keeping systems," according to the Chronicle (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/12). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
