Media contacts:
Ron Sauder, 404-727-3366, rsauder@emory.edu
November 7, 2001


 



Emory University Announces Newly Formed Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality

Aetna's USQA Center for Health Care Research™ Will Be the Cornerstone of Emory University's Multi-disciplinary Approach to Improving Health Outcomes



ATLANTA, GA and HARTFORD, CT, November 5, 2001 -- Emory University and Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced that the USQA Center for Health Care Research, an Aetna affiliate, has become the cornerstone of the newly formed Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality. This agreement immediately establishes one of the largest groups in the nation in health research directed at measuring and assessing the quality of health care with the aim of improving medical outcomes.



"Aetna is delighted that Emory, one of the nation's preeminent academic research centers, shares our belief in the Center and its research mission and sees the value of creating this unique public-private partnership," said Aetna Chairman and CEO John W. Rowe, M.D. "We believe that a strategic relationship with Emory will enable us to explore new ways to collaborate on joint research initiatives directed toward the quality and cost-effectiveness of patient care." Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D. has been named director of the new Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality. He is chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, where the Emory Center is housed.

"Being able to incorporate this strong, experienced Aetna research team into the new Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality provides a jump start to achieving our objectives of linking clinicians with health services researchers to look at issues of cost and quality," said Dr. Thorpe. "This provides an unusual opportunity for Emory, by integrating academically trained researchers who had been working hands on in the private sector, looking at issues of quality and outcomes. We are pleased and excited that they will be able to bring that experience to bear in this new university research center."

This visionary arrangement moves the USQA Center for Health Care Research, and a highly experienced group of 14 researchers and staff, from the private sector of Aetna into Emory University's Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, one of the nation's fastest growing research academic health sciences centers. It is expected that the new Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality will maintain an on-going relationship with Aetna for collaborative research initiatives that may include access to the extensive data resources of Aetna's U.S. Quality Algorithms (USQA) group. USQA is the performance and outcomes measurement subsidiary of Aetna. Aetna will continue to support and collaborate on relevant research undertaken at the Emory Center for a minimum of two years.

The Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality, a multi-school, multi-disciplinary center within The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University, was created to conduct outcomes-based research that includes assessing and improving methods for measuring quality of care and designing interventions to improve health outcomes. In addition to research, the new Emory Center will focus on education by offering a long-distance Master of Public Health degree in outcomes research. It also will focus on service and applications, working with consumers, physicians and insurers to evaluate and implement new approaches for improving quality of care.

Michael M. E. Johns, M.D., Executive Vice President for Health Affairs at Emory University, Director of Emory's Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and CEO of Emory Healthcare, said "In a time when there are documented issues concerning health care costs and quality, the Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality can make a major contribution toward solving some of these pressing issues. We are particularly pleased that we have been able to work closely with Aetna to accomplish the goal of adding the talents of the USQA Center for Health Care Research to our multi-faceted organization."

"The USQA Center for Health Care Research has provided Aetna with valuable insight into quality improvement opportunities at all levels of the health care continuum," said Aetna Chief Medical Officer William C. Popik, M.D. "We are pleased about the USQA Center's enhanced potential to play a critical role as the foundation of Emory's multi-disciplinary efforts to improve health outcomes."

Based in Atlanta, the USQA Center for Health Care Research has produced research-based knowledge and methods to help health plans, physicians and hospitals enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of patient care. The Center has collaborated on research with academic institutions such as Emory, government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other health industry leaders for more than seven years.

The USQA Center for Health Care Research and its researchers have more than a dozen studies in progress at any given time. In 2000 alone, they published findings in peer-reviewed journals including the Archives of Internal Medicine, Journal of Gerontology, Maternal and Child Health Journal, and Cardiology in Primary Care Medicine. Article topics have included evaluating the role of health literacy as a potential contributor to depression, physical abuse around the time of pregnancy, diabetes in managed care, and the association of breastfeeding education and support with the decision to breastfeed.

Last year, the USQA Center for Health Care Research was one of nine research consortia awarded a contract by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to establish the Integrated Delivery System Research Network. This new model of field-based research links top researchers in the nation with some of the country's largest health care systems.

In recognition of Aetna's contribution to the establishment of the newly formed Emory Center, the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center will establish a lecture series that will focus on health outcomes and quality research.

The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center encompasses those components of Emory University responsible for education of health professionals, research affecting health and illness, patient care, and policies for prevention and treatment of disease. The Health Sciences Center includes Emory University School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Rollins School of Public Health, Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the center's system of clinical facilities. Information is available at www.emory.edu/WHSC/.

Aetna is the nation's leading provider of health care and related group benefits, serving 18.1 million health care members, 13.9 million dental members and 11.7 million group insurance customers. Information about Aetna is available at www.aetna.com.

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