Hartford health insurer Aetna Inc. named Cromwell physician Wayne Rawlins to oversee its systemwide efforts to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
Rawlins is Aetna’s first national medical director of racial and ethnic equality initiatives. His job is to identify disparities in care among Aetna’s minority members and to spearhead programs that promote more equitable health care.
Rawlins, who has practiced internal medicine for 30 years, will report directly to Aetna’s chief medical officer Lonny Reisman.
“Having a senior level clinician devoted entirely to this effort will help us take many of our programs further as well as gain new insights from research that can lead to better health outcomes for minority populations,” Reisman said.
Aetna said it is proactively trying to root out racial and ethnic disparities in health care.
It claims to have racial and ethnic data for more than six million currently active members.Â
