NEW YORK, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- While managed care already has played a
key role in improving quality, coverage, and choice for many Americans, those
and future improvements are threatened by proposed regulations, H. Edward
Hanway, president of CIGNA HealthCare said today.
    Hanway told a national conference on health care, presented by The
Conference Board, that pending legislation in Washington, D.C. and state
capitals would impose unneeded constraints on health insurers and employers
without doing anything to improve the health of the American people.  "I
haven't seen anything to convince me that bigger government, more regulations
and expanded bureaucratic control are the means to higher quality health
care," Hanway said.
    He predicted that a single piece of legislation introduced in Congress,
the Patient Access and Responsible Care Act or PARCA, would impose more than
1,000 mandates, requirements and regulations on managed care.  Those mandates
would force up premiums by an average of $1,200 per family and could result in
the loss of health insurance for more than 4 million Americans.
    "Despite the obvious benefits of continued improvement of the managed care
concept, I truly believe that we face as much risk of falling back as we do of
moving forward," Hanway said.  "The activities of the next year or two will
determine the direction in which we will go."
    The CIGNA president suggested building on recent gains to achieve a new
vision for health care.  "My vision is of a healthier America, an America
healthier than it's ever been, thanks to a health care system that is
quality-focused and consumer-centered, integrated and linked by information
technology.  If fully realized, the next few years could well become a
breakthrough era in health care."
    The current refocusing from "managed care" to "care management" is a
critical change in emphasis, according to Hanway.  Care management stresses
prevention of diseases and creation of wellness, rather than treating illness.
As a result, patients are encouraged to take a more active role in their own
health care.
    Early results of the new care management ideal are promising.  One of
CIGNA's pregnancy management programs has reduced by 56 percent the number of
newborn intensive care unit admissions.  Hanway also noted that CIGNA's asthma
management efforts in Georgia and Florida reduced the number of asthma
patients who needed hospitalization by 23 percent during the past year.
    Hanway predicted that within a short time consumers will have easy access
to information on the cost and quality of health care, enabling them to make
more informed decisions.  There will be more choice of doctors and increased
access to specialists.
    "If we can work together to successfully address the issues that we face
today key to which is that government policy-makers permit the free market to
foster innovation and competition our health care system will complete its
transition from a cottage industry of often isolated components to integrated
systems for providing care," Hanway said.
    The Conference Board is the world's leading business membership
organization, connecting companies in more than 60 nations.  Founded in
1916, the Board's two-fold purpose is to improve the business enterprise
system and to enhance the contribution of business to society.  More than
10,000 participants attend Conference Board meetings each year.
    CIGNA HealthCare is one of the nation's leading providers of health
benefit programs with products marketed in all 50 states and managed care
networks serving 43 states.  Nearly one in every 12 Americans has CIGNA
HealthCare medical coverage.  CIGNA HealthCare is a division of CIGNA
Corporation, a leading provider of health care, insurance and related
financial services in the United States, and includes one of the largest
U.S.-based international insurance organizations.

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