Clinical guidelines and policy bulletins

Clinical practice guidelines
 

We adopt evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) from nationally recognized sources. The CPGs are tools to help you make decisions about appropriate care for specific clinical circumstances. The CPGs were chosen to help our providers give members high-quality, consistent care with effective use of services and resources. These protocols are reviewed every two years, or more frequently if national guidelines change within a two-year period. 

Preventive care guidelines
 

We adopt nationally accepted, evidence-based preventive health guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 

If these sources have insufficient evidence to recommend for or against a service, or have conflicting interpretations of evidence, we may use recommendations from other nationally recognized sources.

What you should know

These guidelines are intended to improve the delivery of care and clarify standards and expectations. They are for informational purposes only. They should not:
 

• Take precedence over your responsibility to provide treatment based on individual needs
• Substitute as orders for treatment of a member
• Guarantee coverage or payment for the type or level of care proposed or provided

These bulletins state our policy about the medical necessity or investigational status of medical technologies and other services to help with coverage decisions. A national review team creates the bulletins and bases them on:

• Published medical literature
• Formal technology assessments
• Structured evidence reviews
• Evidence-based consensus statements
• Expert opinions
• Evidence-based guidelines from professional and public health entities 

Aetna^® clinical policy bulletins

Aetna medical clinical policy bulletins