Aetna, Inova collaborating on new health plan

Inova Health System and Aetna announced they will partner to create a jointly owned health plan serving northern Virginia called Innovation Health Plans. Terms of the 50/50 partnership were not disclosed.

The new insurer is expected to officially begin Jan. 1 and will seek to promote clinical integration in the northern Virginia region, according to a news release (PDF). Falls Church, Va.-based Inova, which has five hospitals and provides care to more than 1.1 million northern Virginia residents annually, will be charged with promoting wellness, improving care coordination and streamlining access to patient information. Aetna, which has 570,000 members in Virginia, will provide support for electronic patient records across all care settings, according to the release.

“Both Inova and Aetna believe that shared accountability translates into a powerful new value proposition for consumers,” Mark Bertolini, Aetna's chairman, president and CEO, said in the release. (Watch a video of Bertolini discussing the effects of healthcare reform on insurers.)

The plan will offer commercial plans and Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans, the partners said.