ROANOKE, Va. (Dec. 22, 2011) – Carilion Clinic, Vistar Eye Center, Eye Care & Surgery and Blue Ridge Eye Center will collaborate to provide emergency and in-patient eye care to patients at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The agreement includes the provision of 24/7 on-call service for Carilion’s Level-1 trauma program, along with general and retinal ophthalmologic care for emergency/urgent care and hospitalized patients.

“We’re pleased to be working with these excellent physicians,” said Carilion Clinic President and Chief Executive Officer Nancy Agee. “Together we can coordinate our focus on the needs of our patients.”

The three physician groups will continue as independent practices, but will collaborate with Carilion’s trauma and emergency programs to further advance the level and quality of eye care in the region.

“We are looking forward to fostering a partnership with Carilion to improve upon the community’s emergency eye care needs,” said Jon Brisley, M.D., Managing Partner with Vistar Eye Center.  “Patient care has and continues to be of utmost importance to our practice.”

“This collaborative agreement is essential to providing excellent and comprehensive care to all patients at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, and particularly those patients in the emergency department. We are excited to be able to participate,” says William Thompson, M.D. of Eye Care & Surgery.

The physicians participating in the collaboration include: Eugene H. Eng, M.D., Carey W. Robinson, M.D., and William M. Thompson, M.D., with Eye Care & Surgery; Chad Albright, M.D., Jon Brisley, M.D., Timothy Byrnes, M.D., Frank Cotter, M.D., John Facciani, M.D., Kurt Guelzow, M.D., Craig Hartranft, M.D., John Hines, M.D., David Kinsler, M.D., Scott Strelow, M.D., Kenneth Tuck, M.D., and John R. Wood, M.D. with Vistar Eye Center; and Joseph S. Weisman, M.D. with Blue Ridge Eye Center.

The collaboration agreement is effective Jan. 1, 2012.

To learn more about how FIT Rx works, and how it helped one Roanoke County woman, watch Jean Jadhon’s report on WDBJ.

ROANOKE, Va., October 24, 2011 — Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Carilion Clinic have launched  a suite of new health benefit plans – called Aetna Whole Health™ – now available to Virginia employers with two to 100 eligible employees. Aetna Whole Health plans create a unique opportunity for Roanoke-area businesses to help their employees optimize their health and get healthier faster. The plans feature a new model of health care delivery designed to offer:

• a more coordinated, personalized experience for patients;
• lower co-pays for seeing  designated providers; and
• better health care outcomes.

Aetna Whole Health plans unite Aetna’s network of contracted providers and small-group plans with doctors, hospitals and outpatient specialty centers from Carilion Clinic and LewisGale Regional Health System. The plans are priced to reflect the cost and quality benefits of the Aetna-Carilion collaboration. Members can benefit from a low co-pay differential by using “designated network providers” who have been recognized or are in the process of being recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for meeting stringent efficiency and quality measures. Providers will help to create healthier communities by sharing information as patients pass through different health care settings and using personalized care and patient engagement to improve quality.

These new products are based on Carilion’s and Aetna’s accountable care organization (ACO) relationship, announced in March. ACOs are alliances of physicians, hospitals and other providers that offer a more coordinated approach to care for their patients with the goal of improving quality and reducing costs. ACOs emphasize preventive care and better care coordination among various providers to improve quality and efficiency. Aetna Whole Health features payment models that encourage providers to share accountability for health care quality and affordability.

“Aetna is very happy to launch new commercial products in collaboration with Carilion as we transform patient care and build a more effective, sustainable health care delivery system to serve the Roanoke area,” said Charles D. Kennedy, M.D., Aetna’s chief executive officer of Accountable Care Solutions. “Collaborative care models have been shown to improve quality and reduce costs. Aetna is using the experience we’ve gained to design patient-centered, accountable care models for large hospital systems and integrated delivery networks around the country.” For more information on Aetna’s Accountable Care Solutions, visit the company’s dedicated website at www.aetnaacs.com.

“This is an exciting time for Aetna,” said Thomas Grote, Aetna’s market president for Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. “We’re looking to greatly expand our presence in the Roanoke area. This new approach enables us to offer improved quality and more cost-effective products for small employers, who are struggling in these difficult times to provide affordable, comprehensive health benefits to their workers.”

The initiative combines Aetna’s innovative tools, designed to empower consumers by providing more control over health decisions, with Carilion’s accountable medical group, featuring a fully integrated electronic medical record and a comprehensive network of primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals and outpatient facilities.

“This is part of our commitment to our patients and our community”, said Carilion Clinic President and CEO Nancy Howell Agee. “Our focus on advancing quality in health care, and our relationship with Aetna, makes it possible to establish this new partnership with patients. It is a significant step in our mission to inspire better health and wellness.”

Aetna provides health benefits to more than 550,000 members in Virginia.  Those members have access to a contracted network of 92 hospitals and more than 14,000 primary care and specialist physicians.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.5 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com.

About Carilion Clinic

Carilion Clinic is a not-for-profit health care organization serving nearly one million people in Virginia through hospitals, outpatient specialty centers and advance primary care practices. Led by multi-specialty physician teams with a shared philosophy that puts the patient first, Carilion is committed to improving outcomes for every patient while advancing the quality of care through medical education and research. For more information, visit www.carilionclinic.org/about.

Radical surgery is not the only option when it comes to treating breast cancer, but alternatives usually require early detection through screening mammography.

Learn more from Carilion Clinic breast surgeon Roxanne Davenport M.D., in this interview broadcast on WDBJ.

An assessment with a Carilion Clinic genetic counselor can help you determine your risk.

You should consider an assessment if:

• Three or more relatives on the same side of the family with the same type of cancer or related cancers (e.g., breast and ovarian cancer or colon and uterine cancer)
• More than one type of cancer or bilateral cancers in the same person (e.g., cancer in both breasts)
• Cancer at an unusually young age (e.g., breast, colon or uterine cancer diagnosed under age 50)
• Rare cancer (e.g., male breast cancer, ovarian epithelial cancer or medullary thyroid cancer)
• Ashkenazi Jewish decent and cancer in the family
• More than 10 to 15 precancerous polyps in the colon/GI tract in a person’s lifetime
• Previous genetic testing in the family, even if the results were negative

Learn more from Carilion Clinic genetics counselor Thuy  Vu, C.G.C., in this interview broadcast on WDBJ.

Carilion Clinic Children’s Hospital’s neonatal pediatric mobile intensive care unit will be on the road next month, transporting children throughout Southwest Virginia. The vehicle is already getting rave reviews from all ages.

Watch local news coverage of the vehicle’s unveiling below.

The new mobile ICU was made possible by local donations to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Visit their web site to learn more and donate online.