Aetna Demonstrates Commitment to Innovation and Consumer Empowerment at South by Southwest 2013

-- Aetna senior leaders talk innovation, collaboration and the power of partnerships; showcase three new partner apps for the CarePass^TM Platform --

AUSTIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (NYSE: AET) is highlighting a number of different programs that show how technology and innovation can empower people to live healthier lives at the 2013 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival. Among its activities, Aetna will showcase three small technology companies that have integrated their solutions with Aetna’s CarePass^TM platform, which offers simple, convenient access to some of the best health and wellness apps in the marketplace. Aetna senior leaders Martha L. Wofford, vice president and head of CarePass for Aetna, and Charles E. Saunders, M.D., chief executive officer of Healthagen, a division of Aetna, will also join other thought leaders presenting at the festival.

“Who Owns the Data: Self-tracking to Health 2.0.”

New Partners Enhance the CarePass Experience

The new mobile and web apps partnering with the CarePass platform are:

• MOXIEfit^TM by Intelligent Automation, Inc., a virtual personal trainer to motivate and support a step-by-step achievable weight loss program;
• MyBreath by BreathResearch, a solution for analyzing, tracking, and training a person’s breathing pattern to reduce stress, increase endurance, and optimize health; and
• Zipongo, a solution that makes it easy to eat well with deals on healthy groceries and inspiring meal plans.

“The CarePass™ platform creates a personalized, coherent experience to help consumers manage their whole health, from getting care to staying well, all with one sign-on,” said Wofford. “We are excited to work with developers and small companies to make it easier and faster to bring innovative solutions to consumers by connecting to CarePass.”

CarePass offers a developer portal that includes access to unique data and services from both Aetna and third-party partners via application programming interfaces (APIs). The portal is intended to let existing apps easily deliver a connected user experience via Aetna’s CarePass Sync API, and to enable developers to quickly create new apps on the platform. Aetna will be showcasing its developer portal, its CarePass Sync API, and these three new partner apps as a presenter at Circus Mashimus, the popular SXSW destination hosted by API management firm Mashery.

CarePass now features 16 market-leading consumer app partners including: ACTIVE Network, BettrLife, FatSecret, Fitbit, FitSync, Fooducate, GoodChime!, iTriage, MapMyFitness, MOXIEfit, MyBreath, RunKeeper, Sparkpeople, Strava, Thryve, and Zipongo. CarePass also features Passage™, a fitness app that transforms a routine walk, run, or bike ride into virtual exploration. Passage was developed by the CarePass team to demonstrate the power of the platform, and has recently been made available for Apple and Android devices. In addition to these consumer app partners, new API partners for the CarePass Developer Portal are FoodCare, Walgreens, Nutrionix and mHealthcoach. The CarePass Developer Portal now features 11 API partners.

Engaging with Thought Leaders

Wofford will discuss the CarePass platform as part of a SXSW panel entitled “Who Owns the Data: Self-tracking to Health 2.0.” Wofford will present with John Wilbanks, chief commons officer of Sage Bionetworks, on March 9 at 12:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Austin.

Saunders will participate in a SXSW panel discussion entitled “Does Scale Matter in Healthcare?” on March 10 at 3:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Austin. Panelists joining Saunders include Sue Siegel, GE Corporate Vice President and CEO, healthymagination GE; Geoffrey Clapp, health technology entrepreneur and advisor at Rock Health; and Aman Bhandari, Senior Advisor to the Chief Technology Officer in the Office of the Secretary of US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Saunders and Wofford will also meet with health technology startups as part of the Social Health Startup Bootcamp, starting at 2 p.m. on March 8 at the Hilton Downtown Austin.

@Aetna at South by Southwest

Healthagen will introduce WellMatch^SM through demos at the iH3 Social Health Happy Hour at SXSW. WellMatch is committed to creating an online marketplace founded on cost transparency and discounted health care services. It builds upon Aetna’s leading health care cost transparency tool – the Member Payment Estimator -- to offer enhanced transparency information and services. The WellMatch platform will be piloted with employers this year.

Aetna’s participation at SXSW also includes:

• CarePass presenting a happy hour in the Circus Mashimus lounge on March 8 from 4-6 pm.
• iTriage® joining WellMatch at the iH3 Social Health Happy Hour. Downloaded more than 8 million times, iTriage allows users to research their symptoms, find a medical provider that best serves their medical needs, and in many cases, review wait times and book appointments – all from the app or website. iTriage will also be sponsoring the Interactive Innovators’ Awards, a private event taking place on Monday, March 11. SXSWi attendees can find iTriage throughout the festival’s Interactive component by following @iTriage and #CureSXScurvy.

Live updates on Aetna’s activities throughout SXSW will be available on Twitter (@Aetna).

About Healthagen

Healthagen is a division of Aetna that offers health and technology services to providers, payers, employers and consumers. Healthagen brings together a wide range of payer-neutral population health management solutions and health information technology capabilities from its businesses that include ActiveHealth Management, iTriage and Medicity. Our solutions are designed to improve care quality, control health care costs and engage consumers in their health care. Learn more at www.healthagen.com.

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.