Aetnas Stars Are Shining as CMS Announces Medicare Quality Ratings

Hartford : Aetna, one of the nation’s leading health care benefits companies, once again achieved high Medicare Star Quality Ratings for its Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) plans for 2017. Aetna has the highest percentage of Medicare members enrolled in plans rated 4.0 overall stars among publicly traded companies*.

“Aetna is extremely proud of our strong Medicare star ratings which, in an increasingly competitive industry, reflect our commitment to increasing the number of healthy days for our members,” said Nancy Cocozza, president of Aetna’s Medicare business. “We are focused on encouraging our members to work more closely with their doctors to enhance care coordination and patient satisfaction, and on improving our members’ overall health care experience.”

In the most recent star ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Aetna MAPD plans achieved an overall enrollment weighted average rating of 4.0 stars for 2017 star ratings. Aetna has increased the number of members enrolled in plans with a star rating of 4.0 or higher to 91 percent, representing a four-percentage point increase from last year.

Key highlights:

• Aetna will offer Individual Medicare plans in 863 counties across the nation in 2017, and 97 percent of these counties will have a plan offering rated 4.0 stars or greater. Aetna serves Medicare beneficiaries nationwide with Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare prescription drug plans and Medicare Supplement plans.
  
  
  
  • Aetna is expanding to certain counties in six new states for 2017: Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Washington and Wisconsin.
  
  
  • Aetna is entering 134 new counties nationwide for 2017.
  
  
  • All 134 new counties will have an Aetna MAPD plan offering rated 4.0 stars or greater.
  
  
  
  

The company’s strong 2017 star ratings for its MAPD plans reflect its commitment to improving member health and experience. Key highlights:

• Aetna plans averaged over 4.5 stars in the following individual performance measures: Controlling Blood Pressure in People with Hypertension, Controlling Blood Sugar in People with Diabetes, BMI Assessments, Member Complaints, Part D Appeals Processing & Decisions, Prescription Drug Price Accuracy and Prospective Member Call Center.

• Aetna plans averaged over 4 stars in the following individual performance measures: Medication Adherence for Hypertension, Hospital Readmissions, Members Choosing to Leave the Plan, Rheumatoid Arthritis Management and Breast Cancer Screening.

Aetna Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans are available to Medicare beneficiaries for selection during the Medicare Annual Open Enrollment period, which starts on October 15 and runs through December 7. Enrollment becomes effective on January 1, 2017.

CMS’ Medicare Star Rating System ranks the performance and quality of Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans to help beneficiaries and their families compare plans. Star ratings are calculated each year using a scale of one to five stars (with five being the best), and may change from year to year, depending on how the plan performs.

Medicare Advantage plans are rated on how well they perform on five different categories: staying healthy, managing chronic (long-term) conditions, member experience with the health plan, member complaints, and health plan customer service. Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans are also rated on how well they perform on four additional categories: drug plan customer service, member complaints, member experience with drug plan and drug safety.