Aetna’s presentation at an investor conference addressed the acquisition of Coventry and provided just a bit of insight into their plans for workers comp…
Here’s what CFO Joe Zubretsky – who some have said is “no fan of workers’ comp) said…
“The second point I would make — so there is specialty revenue. The second point I would make is, and we didn’t count this as well, but I’m quite excited about it, because it’s been a vision of ours for many, many years, to unlock the value of workforce optimization by combining the skills of long-term disability, health care, and workers compensation. And when you think about it, all of those three lines of business and coverages intersect with the healthcare system, and somebody is not at their desk every day.
They have the best and largest workers compensation platform in the industry. We have dabbled in that industry over the years, but we’ve never been able to unlock its secret of profitable growth. So now that we have a fantastic long-term disability platform, what we think is the industry-leading healthcare platform, and now with the world’s or the US’s largest worker’s compensation platform, we believe we will be able to embark upon a strategy of workforce optimization, presenteeism that has not been seen before. But that’s probably out a ways and may be a futuristic view, but we think there is value there.”
[emphases added, thanks to theStreet.com for transcript]
Joe: Just a comment- the new website looks great. Keep up the good work! Ed
Nice job Joe. Looks great and I look forward to reading many more. Kevin
Hi Joe, Just wanted to let you know, I like the new website. Thanks for helping educate the industry. Good job. Agnes
Hi Joe,
First off love your blog, it’s full of insight, direction, and I look forward to each new post. Especially your all famous April 1st and next year predictions.
How do you think the market place will change with Aetna’s purchase of Coventry here in Texas, specific to the HCNs? Are there major changes in the new future?
Thanks,
Chris
Joe, you shouldn’t put stock in to what they say you should put stock in what they do and more critically what your instincts tell you based on insight and knowledge. Every stock analyst, of which I was one before I got into this business, is taught this from early on in their career. Zubretsky probably believes what he’s saying but he’s a CFO and not a product guy. They have no workers comp product guys there and hence the reason they decided to get out of the business not once but twice. Wouldn’t read much into what he’s saying.
David
I don’t know what that means.
Like the new website design BTW.