Baptist Health and Aetna Sign New Contract

Jacksonville, Florida, June 27, 2007 -- Baptist Health and Aetna have announced that they have reached agreement on a new multi-year contract that ensures continuation of the long-term relationship between them.

Under the agreement, members of Aetna's commercial plans will continue to receive covered inpatient and outpatient services, at in-network rates, from Baptist's five Jacksonville-area hospitals: Baptist Medical Center Downtown; Baptist Medical Center Beaches; Baptist Medical Center Nassau; Baptist Medical Center South; and Wolfson Children's Hospital, along with the Baptist Primary Care network.

"Aetna is excited to announce this agreement with Baptist Health," said Ruth Fricke, Aetna's head of network operations for Florida. "The Baptist facilities have long been an important part of our North Florida network, and we're happy to be extending that affiliation."

Aetna provides health benefits to approximately 220,000 members in North Florida. Those members have access to a contracted network of 10 hospitals and more than 2,700 primary-care and specialist physicians.

"We are pleased that Baptist Health and Aetna have reached a mutually satisfactory agreement that will allow us to continue providing quality health care to Aetna members at all of our hospitals, outpatient facilities, and the Baptist Primary Care network throughout Northeast Florida," said Philip Boyce, senior vice president of managed care at Baptist Health.