Aetna is the US largest health insurance provider and also provides disability and life insurance to the US citizens. The healthcare division of Aetna offers Point of Service (POS), HMO, health savings account and Medicare plans for the individuals and various groups. The health segment of the insurance company covers over 24 million medical members. Aetna’s market segment includes Medicare prescription drug coverage and traditional health plans that are offered to more than 5,500 hospitals and 1 million doctors countrywide. In about 40 states, the health insurance is privately offered under Medicare Advantage health plans and Medicaid services are offered in 15 states. Along with the regional segmentation, the company also offers the health care plan in India and also expatriate coverage for Americans that are working overseas with the help of Aetna international. Even though, the company’s international operation is relatively small but still the international customer base has grown to over 400,000 customers in over 100 countries.
When Ronald William joined Aetna, it was a sinking ship and was bleeding out on its assets with a loss of US$ 280 million in previous years. The reason why he thought that going from loss to profitability is easy for the company as he was able to identify the main reasons for failure and opportunity to recover the sinking ship of the huge enterprise of Aetna. At this time, the company was offering dental, medical and other health insurance benefits to more than 845,000 healthcare professionals with more than 37 million members. Ronald William was able to design a strategy that focused on recovering the sinking ship with an understanding of the company’s current potential customers ranging from small businesses to large organizations and also looked for ways to penetrate into new target markets such as law companies, retailers and banking sector. In order to accomplish this, it was imperative that new services and products were designed that were well suited to the new target segments, as well as the current target market. The development of an integrated system of information system was integral for both customers and employees to ensure that quality health care services could be provided in a cost effective manner.
The businesses are continuously thriving towards managing change in order to meet the demands of changing business dynamics. In order to manage change effectively, it is important that management must discuss each and every step with employees before implementing the change management process. It is important that top management realizes that they are dealing with professionals who need to focus upon their own careers and change can impact their professional growth. Ronald William statement that being able to manage change is crucially important in any person’s career is of utmost importance. The management of change is important to me in my professional career because, a successful professional career requires continuous learning, growth and adapting to the changing business dynamics which is possible only when an individual is willing to change his attitude, adapt to new technology and learn from their environment. If one is unwilling to change, it can lead to a stagnant career, which ceases at one point. In the case of Aetna, when Ronald William joined the company, employees were prepared that they again have to struggle to start another exhausting journey to transform the sinking ship into a growth engine but they were surprised when Ronald, did not try to impose his new strategy upon them. Instead, he visited his workforce, discussed their issues, understood their point of view well and involved them in the planning process. The middle and lower level employees were considered a part of change management where the relationships became strong, employees started to respect each other, and cultural issues were taken care of.
Ron devised the Aetna’s three-I strategy, in which one I was information, the second I was innovation, and the third I was integrating the innovation with the processes. The forecasting model that was created gave them clarity and transparency that everyone involved in the process can use.
The Aetna Way was focused on values. The core focus of Aetna was to put the people they are serving at the middle of their processes. It starts with integrity, which stands for doing the right thing for the right reason. The second part is excellence and accountability, where they aim to work their best. The third is caring, whereby they listen to their customers and lastly, is inspiration, where they aim to inspire each other and explore new ideas to make the world a better place.
Ronald William did not over-emphasized his new strategy and development of the integrated information system and imposed upon his employees. Instead, he pressed upon issues of excellent service, integrity, cultural respect, engagement of employees, employee surveys, and performance reviews. It was of surprise to employees when they were invited to answer questions about whether they believed their supervisors integrated Aetna’s values and culture into effect and secondly, whether the employees were proud to be part of the team. Within a few years, the improvement was remarkable. The company was able to reach the number one position in Fortune Magazine and was considered as the most popular health care organization – retaining its old position back.
One of the lessons that Ron learned was that the culture of the company should be based on values. By having a strong focus on culture of values, Ron was able to turn Aetna around. The second lesson that Ron learned was simplicity. He believes that to have a better health care system, his company should have simpler processes. The implication for my career is that whenever I join a new organization, I should keep an eye out for how I can make the process simpler. The third lesson was to focus. He said to have a clear focus on what the objective was helps in turning around the company. The implication for my career is that I should have a single, tangible focus that should guide my decisions. The last lesson he learnt was that of connection. He believes that technology should be used to connect each part of the system. Suppliers should be connected to the hospitals who should be connected with the patient. This helps in keeping the processes simple and focused on improving the life of the patient. The implication for my career is that I should make more connections and network with people around me to be more successful. Every business is about relationships. Hence, by growing your network you can grow your business.
Ron also argues that leaders are made. I agree. It is these difficult situations that teach us how to react in the correct way and how to lead people out of a crisis situation. Change management can be taught and through that a person can become a leader.
