Aetna stacks technology into Banner Health ACO (US)

Donna Cusano

One of our last posts of 2011 noted insurance payer Aetna’s acquisition of iTriage, a mobile app which enables an individual to check symptoms, research diseases and find a doctor or clinic. With Arizona-based Banner Health System, which is participating in the CMS Pioneer ACO Model, Aetna is combining iTriage (smartphone and online appointment setting and pre-registration services for patients) with Active CareTeam (physician decision support) and Medicity health information exchange to connect clinicians, doctors and patients. According to the article, Banner Health includes 50,000 patients in its ACO model. Non-US readers should note that there are many different models of ACOs, depending on relationships between hospitals and (usually owned) practice groups, and they include specialist as well as primary care. There are even non-hospital inclusive and Medicaid only ACOs. Release (WSJ MarketWatch)