Healthy Counties Initiative Sponsor Spotlight: Aetna

Key Takeaways

From Our Partners

This post is sponsored by our partners at Aetna.

Aetna, a CVS Health business, serves an estimated 34 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 and behavioral health plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers' compensation administrative services and health information technology products and 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.

Supporting Affordable Housing

As the leading health solutions company, Aetna’s commitment to addressing the needs of the community has always been a core value. A continued area of focus for the organization has been around affordable housing investment strategy and as a result has provided underserved communities with quality housing, economic support and educational training opportunities based on the unique needs of the population. The $220M investment last year included funding to help build housing for individuals and families who may be experiencing homelessness, individuals with physical, intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, youth aging out of foster care, victims of domestic violence, people in need of behavioral health or addiction treatment and individuals challenged by similar life and health situations.  To note, a combined $77M investment was made in Los Angeles County (CA), Franklin County (OH) and Travis County (TX).

Advancing Health Equity

As the company invests in local affordable housing developments, it is also exploring opportunities to bring other health equity initiatives to those same local communities to make an even greater impact. This includes expanding the reach of its Project Health program in cities across the country. Project Health offers free biometric screenings to help identify chronic conditions before they become life-threatening illnesses. Project Health has delivered more than $134 million in free health care screenings to nearly 1.7 million people in racially diverse communities with large uninsured populations. As we work to address social determinants of health in communities and associated health disparities around the country, Project Health helps provide a critical link to health care for vulnerable populations.

Supporting Mental Health

Exacerbated by the pandemic, the need and commitment towards mental health services remains a top priority for Aetna. The company has recently expanded its ongoing programs with Psych Hub, the world’s most comprehensive platform for mental health education. This effort is also part of Aetna’s comprehensive strategy to reduce member suicide attempts by 20 percent by the year 2025. “Years of isolation and loss stemming from COVID-19, combined with our social media culture and other factors, have led adolescents to feel more alone, and more stigmatized, in their mental health challenges,” said Cara McNulty, DPA, President, Behavioral Health and Mental Wellbeing, CVS Health. “As a result, we are targeting several programs and services directly toward youth as part of our steadfast commitment to mental wellbeing and suicide reduction.”  Aetna and Psych Hub have launched an Adolescent Treatment Training Series to meet the urgent needs of youth and young adults. This joint effort arms the 283,000 behavioral health and employee assistance program providers in Aetna’s commercial network, Aetna’s internal clinicians and CVS Health’s licensed counselors at MinuteClinic in select HealthHUB locations with access to a no-cost, evidence-based curriculum in the form of courses and resources to identify and treat adolescents and young adults along a full continuum of care, from prevention through intervention, for those at risk of suicide. To further engage and support adolescent mental health, Aetna and Psych Hub will soon launch a limited, joint podcast series, Real Talk with Gen Z, in which youth and young adults lead candid conversations with some of the nation’s leading mental health organizations. Over three episodes, the conversations will focus on the specific experiences of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC youth and mental health challenges such as loneliness and isolation. Featuring guests from The Trevor Project, the JED Foundation and more, the podcast aims to demonstrate to these critical populations that they are heard, understood and that services are available to support them.

To learn more about Aetna’s work within the community and ways in which we can support your county, visit www.aetna.com