TAMPA, Fla. - Aetna Better for Health Florida Lead Director of Behavioral Health Meagan Towner recently announced Aetna's new service plans under the new Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to include Behavioral Analysis.
"Aetna’s new partnership with Behavioral Analysis providers, which just began this month, allows for the screening of children with autism and other behavioral health needs through Florida Medicaid," Aetna said in a release. Aetna is prioritizing the continuity of care for those members who need behavioral health analysis under the leadership of Towner."
The new AHCA program launched on Feb. 1st.
"These providers are in what we call the continuity of care period. They have 90 days essentially where the services can remain for members who were previously obtaining Behavioral Analysis services under the FFS (fee-for-service) service," Towner told The Floridian's Javier Manjarres.
"They have 90 days to continue to provide those services so there's no disruption in the children's care, and then also it gives the providers an opportunity to get acquainted with all of our systems our operations, how it should bill, and also it gives us an opportunity to meet these providers and also give them the tools necessary so that they can be successful," Towner continued.
According to the release, Behavioral Analysis (BA) is defined as including "highly structured interventions, strategies, and approaches designed to decrease maladaptive behaviors and increase or reinforce adaptive behaviors.”
The release added BA services would be covered by Florida Medicaid through the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) program and its FFS system.
"The goal is that it's as seamless a transition for the members because we want to ensure that they're receiving these highly structured interventions, so there should be essentially no change in their service delivery," Towner said.
Aetna is an American-based healthcare company that sells healthcare insurance, including medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans through employer-paid full or partial insurance and benefit programs.
Founded in 1853, the company has an estimated 39 million members. Headquartered in Hartford, Conn., Aetna has been a subsidiary of CVS since 2018.
According to the American Medical Association (AMA), Aetna is the third largest health insurer by market share in the United States at 11%, just behind Elevance Health (12%) and UnitedHealth Group (14%).
"We understand that it's a change for these providers, and I would just say that we've been working with AHCA, and we thank AHCA for their partnership and preparation in this transition, cause they have done a lot of work in this process with us," Towner said.
"I think at the end of the day really, we really just have to focus on the members receiving the services. These are some highly structured and highly important services for children, and so I think at the end of the day the goal is really to ensure these kids have these services without a hiccup and the providers feel supported to be able to do the great work that they do," Towner added.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include quotes from Towner
