Aetna Specialty Health Care Management? Helps Members with Chronic Conditions Stay on Track
Aetna Specialty Health Care Management℠ Helps Members with Chronic Conditions Stay on Track
HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Aetna (NYSE: AET) Specialty Health Care Management℠ nurse team (SHCM) helps members with certain chronic conditions understand and stay on track with their specialty medicine. The team focuses on high-risk members newly diagnosed with a chronic illness, or new to specialty drug therapy. Specialty drugs may be injected, infused, or taken by mouth and often need certain storage conditions, such as refrigeration. For members newly diagnosed with a chronic condition, managing side effects and remembering how to properly take and store medicine can be overwhelming. The SHCM team provides:
Educational information about a member's condition and treatment
Training on how to use medicine correctly and store it safely
Advice on how to stick with a treatment schedule and cope with any side effects or other issues.
The SHCM team receives referrals from other Aetna areas, such as case and disease management nurses. The referrals help pinpoint members who need extra support. The program prevents duplications by providing regular communication between doctors. Once the team identifies a high-risk member, the nurse reviews the member's entire health history for any underlying issues which could further affect a member's health. The nurse then works with the member to coordinate care between different doctors and suggests support resources.
"Our goal is to help members better understand their own health and how to best manage their conditions or illness. Our teams of highly trained nurses are able to answer questions or concerns a member might have regarding their specialty medicine," said Leah McDermott, LPN, clinical team lead for the SHCM team. "The nurses provide guidance to help open communication lines between the doctor and their patient and determine ideal treatment and help slow the disease process."
The SHCM team has helped increase compliance in nine disease states, helping members live healthier lives.
The SHCM team also connects members to additional support resources such as:
Copayment assistance - various groups that offer assistance paying for copays or premiums
Helping set up payment plans
Aetna Case Management
Aetna Disease Management
Aetna Healthy Lifestyle Coaching
Aetna Women's Health Unit
Aetna Behavioral Health
Aetna Registered Dieticians
Various community resources
For more information click here.
About Aetna:
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 44 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, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology services. Aetna's 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.
Media Contact:
Aetna
Katelyn Morgan, 860-273-1880
morgank3@aetna.com
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