Aetna is expanding its accountable care collaboration with Duke Health and WakeMed Health & Hospitals. The collaboration offers employers and individuals in 12 central North Carolina counties a health care option designed to improve quality, efficiency and the patient experience, and to control costs.
The co-branded product called Aetna Whole Health–Duke Health & WakeMed, brings together Duke Health and WakeMed physicians, hospitals and outpatient facilities, as well as WakeMed Key Community Care (WKCC).
WKCC is an accountable care organization (ACO) created by WakeMed Health & Hospitals, WakeMed Physician Practices and Key Physicians. Together, they will form a robust network that offers patients access to every level of health care service, from prevention and primary care to the most sophisticated medical and surgical specialties.
“This new agreement deepens our long-standing collaborative relationships with Duke Health and WakeMed, and is great news for our current and future customers in North Carolina,” said Jim Bostian, president of Aetna’s operations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. “We’re thrilled to align our mutual resources to deliver better value through quality, cost-effective care and improved population health management.”
Aetna Whole HealthSM –Duke Health & WakeMed plans are designed to give employers better health care options for their employees with a patient-centric model of health care focused on keeping people healthy rather than just treating them when they become sick.
The plans feature a new model of health care delivery designed to offer:
- Enhanced coordination of care between doctors and other care providers;
- Improved patient experience through best-in-class care management programs;
- Use of advanced technology that delivers actionable data and quality information to providers;
- Lower overall out-of-pocket costs for members who see providers that are part of the Aetna Whole HealthSM – Duke Health & WakeMed network; and
- Better health care outcomes for patients.
