Aetna has received CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ accreditation, recognizing the organization’s commitment to taking concrete actions to reduce the cancer risk of its employees and their families through screenings, early detection, and healthy changes in lifestyle and in the workplace.
William C. Weldon, chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson chairs the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, the nonprofit organization of cancer-fighting CEOs who created the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, many of its designated cancer centers, and leading health non-profit organizations and professionals.
“We are proud of the leadership that Aetna Chairman and CEO, Ron Williams, has demonstrated as a member of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer to promote healthier workplaces,” said Weldon. “The CEO Cancer Gold Standard certification recognizes that Aetna’s efforts to positively impact health care in America begin with a commitment to serve the health and wellness needs of their own employees and family members.”
The CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ calls for companies to evaluate their health benefits and corporate culture and take extensive, concrete actions in five key areas of health and wellness to fight cancer in the workplace. To earn Gold Standard accreditation, a company must establish programs to reduce cancer risk by discouraging tobacco use; encouraging physical activity; promoting healthy diet, and nutrition; detecting cancer at its earliest stages; and providing access to quality care, including participation in clinical trials.
The most recent President’s Cancer Panel report, “Maximizing our Nation’s Investment in Cancer: Three Crucial Actions for America’s Health”, identified the CEO Cancer Gold Standard as an initiative that emphasizes cancer screening, tobacco control, cancer education, lifestyle modification, and access to cancer treatment when needed.
Other organizations joining Aetna in championing this workplace-based effort to eliminate cancer as a public health threat include: the American Cancer Society, the American Legacy Foundation, the American Society of Clincial Oncology, Aptuit, AstraZeneca, C-Change, Cigna, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Duke Medicine, Edelman, Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Fox Chase Cancer Center, GHI (an EmblemHealth company), GlaxoSmithKline, Hogan & Hartson, Independence Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Jenner & Block, Johnson & Johnson, The Lance Armstrong Foundation, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Meridian Health, Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, Minot State University, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, The National Cancer Institute, Novartis, The Oncology Nursing Society, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, PhRMA, PPD, Pride, Inc., Quintiles Transnational, sanofi-aventis, SAS Institute, The University of North Dakota, US Oncology, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Virtua Health and The Wistar Institute.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation’s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 36.8 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional 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. Their 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 The CEO Roundtable on Cancer
The CEO Roundtable on Cancer was founded in 2001, when former President George H.W. Bush challenged a group of executives to “do something bold and venturesome about cancer within your own corporate families.” The CEOs responded by creating and encouraging the widespread adoption of the CEO Cancer Gold Standard which has now been adopted by more than seventy organizations, large and small, in the U.S. For more information on the CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ and the web-based accreditation process and support, please visit www.CancerGoldStandard.org.
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For more information: CEO Roundtable on Cancer John Dornan, Executive Director P: 919-531-0966 John.Dornan@CEORoundtableOnCancer.org
To read the President’s Cancer Panel 2007- 2008 Report, please go to: http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/pcp.htm.