Aetna and PatientsLikeMe Help Empower Members Through Collaborative Program

HARTFORD, Conn. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) and PatientsLikeMe today announced a new program to help Aetna members improve the way they live with various health conditions. Through a one-year pilot program, Aetna is directing its members to PatientsLikeMe so they can connect with others who have the same condition, and access real-world symptom, treatment and outcome reports.

“Some of the most useful information comes from the people who know firsthand what it’s like to live with a disease. Our collaboration will help us learn how Aetna members can benefit from real world information and patient-to-patient contact to make better, more informed health decisions.”

Aetna members can now receive information about PatientsLikeMe through Aetna Navigator®, Aetna’s secure member website, and access a customized PatientsLikeMe landing page. Aetna nurse case managers will also encourage members to use PatientsLikeMe to learn more about specific health conditions. Aetna is the first health insurance company to develop this type of integrated program with PatientsLikeMe.

“PatientsLikeMe is one of the most innovative and well-respected online patient resources. We share a common focus to empower people to make better health care decisions and lead healthier lives,” says Susan Kosman, R.N., Aetna’s chief nursing officer. “Some of the most useful information comes from the people who know firsthand what it’s like to live with a disease. Our collaboration will help us learn how Aetna members can benefit from real world information and patient-to-patient contact to make better, more informed health decisions.”

PatientsLikeMe Executive Vice President of Marketing and Patient Advocacy Michael Evers adds, “Aetna’s focus to build a stronger, more effective health care system through collaboration with others makes Aetna a pioneer among payors and the perfect ally for PatientsLikeMe. Working together, we’ll connect members with information and resources to live better, so that patient experience continues to propel changes in our health care system.”

PatientsLikeMe connects more than 175,000 patients who are looking to share information on their health condition and learn from others who have similar experiences. Patients can create and share online health profiles that capture their disease experiences, including symptoms and treatments. This information helps create new insights into these diseases that can help advance medicine.

As part of the collaboration, PatientsLikeMe will share information, de-identified in accordance with HIPAA, with Aetna about how their members are using the website. Aetna plans to use this information to provide valuable services and tools to its members. Aetna will not share any Personal Health Information (PHI) or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) with PatientsLikeMe as part of this program.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 37.3 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 and health information technology services. Our 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, see www.aetna.com.

About PatientsLikeMe

PatientsLikeMe is a patient network that helps improve lives and a real-time research platform that advances medicine. Through the network, patients connect with others who have the same disease or condition and track and share their own experiences. In the process, they generate data about the real-world nature of disease that help researchers, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, providers and nonprofits develop more effective products, services and care. PatientsLikeMe has become a trusted source for real-world disease information and a clinically robust resource that has published more than 25 peer-reviewed research studies. Visit us at www.patientslikeme.com or follow us via our blog, Twitter or Facebook.