At Aetna, McCarthy Introduces New Technologies to Empower Customers

Within the past 10 years, consumer access to online healthcare information has significantly changed the way people think about medical care and health decision making, points out Aetna CIO and SVP Meg McCarthy. In the year since I&T recognized McCarthy as one of 2007's Elite 8 insurance technology executives, her focus has remained on driving process discipline and improved productivity throughout the Aetna Information Services (AIS) organization so the carrier can "continue to lead the industry in delivering information to our customers," she says, adding that during the past year Aetna continued to realign its organization to ensure a stronger focus on creating customer value through innovation and technology.

"In the past year alone, we've introduced new technologies that put more power than ever in the hands of our members, including Aetna SmartSource, the first tool of its kind to use member data to provide information specific to the user and search topic," McCarthy relates. "And we've added capabilities to Aetna's personal health record (PHR), which can help people become better informed, organized and active with regard to their health, health information and health care."

As if that weren't enough, at the beginning of this year McCarthy also assumed responsibility for Aetna's procurement and real estate services organizations. "This presented an opportunity to strengthen the partnerships with our business partners and between these teams, which work hand in hand to manage critical components of Aetna's portfolio and deliver solutions to our customers," she explains.

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Peggy Bresnick Kendler has been a writer for 30 years. She has worked as an editor, publicist and school district technology coordinator. During the past decade, Bresnick Kendler has worked for UBM TechWeb on special financialservices technology-centered ... View Full Bio