Podcast Summary: Expanding Women’s Health Access at Aetna Better Health of Illinois

Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Episode: Melanie Fernando on Expanding Women’s Health Access at Aetna Better Health of Illinois
Date: February 17, 2026
Host: Elizabeth Casalow
Guest: Melanie Fernando, CEO of Aetna Better Health of Illinois

Overview

This episode explores how Aetna Better Health of Illinois is expanding women’s health access, particularly for Medicaid members, through its collaboration with Electra Health—a virtual menopause and midlife care provider. Melanie Fernando, CEO, discusses the motivation behind this partnership, implementation strategies, early results, and future directions for addressing women’s health and broader Medicaid population challenges.

Melanie Fernando’s Journey and Mission

• Background & Motivation (01:02):
  • Longstanding focus on Medicaid and government-sponsored healthcare programs.
  • Personal experiences as a first-generation daughter of immigrants and witnessing barriers to care deeply influenced her career choices.
  • Quote:

    “Seeing that growing up, but then also seeing that happening in our own backyard in the most developed nation in the world, it was shocking. So that really was a call to action to me.” (01:30, Melanie Fernando)

Identifying Women’s Health Gaps & Electra Health Partnership

Gaps in Women’s Health Access (03:01)

• Data analysis identified under-addressed areas in women’s health, specifically for perimenopausal and menopausal women.

• Only 8.8% of women in the menopausal range seek treatment, despite being 51% of the Illinois population.

• Menopause remains a “silent suffering” due to limited public discussion or education.

• Quote:

  “Menopause and perimenopausal symptoms aren’t widely talked about… It’s kind of like a silent suffering and no one talks about it.” (03:21, Melanie Fernando)

Partner Selection & Solution Criteria

• Cross-functional stakeholder conversations led to searching for virtual, evidence-based solutions.
• Electra Health emerged as the best partner for providing:
  • Multilingual, virtual clinician support
  • Coaching and educational resources
  • Accessible, high-touch, evidence-based care

Program Development & Implementation

Partnership Process & Timeline (05:35)

• One month for initial assessment and solution validation.
• Three to four months for contracting—focusing on guarantees of meaningful outcomes, coverage, and ease of use.
• Implementation setup (technology, data sharing, outreach) takes an additional 60–90 days.
• Entire rollout: approximately 1 year end-to-end.

Early Results & Engagement Insights

Engagement Metrics (06:30)

• Initial focus on digital engagement:
  • Monitoring ad click-throughs, text, and email opens.
  • Typical Medicaid member engagement benchmark: 30%.
  • Challenges include:
    • Contact info frequently changes (lost phones, moves)
    • Transient population dynamics
• Quote:

  “Medicaid is historically and currently the hardest population to reach because of evolving contact information… So 30% floor I would say, but if we exceed that then it’s a home run.” (07:11, Melanie Fernando)

Overcoming Barriers: Communication & Outreach

Omnichannel Approach (07:53)

• Engagement strategies differ based on age (40–64 most relevant for menopause).
• Channels used:
  • Email (highest engagement)
  • Text messaging
  • In-person outreach at community events (e.g., baby showers)
  • Care managers for high-acuity individuals
  • Physical flyers and QR codes at community partner sites
• Proactive updating of member contact info across all touchpoints.
• Emphasis on personalized communication, leveraging AI and member data to improve outreach relevance.

Linking Engagement to Broader Health Initiatives

Integration into Care Quality Improvement (10:41)

• Electra provides both qualitative (coaching session feedback) and quantitative data to enhance member profiles.

• Insights help:

  • Identify unmet social or health needs
  • Recommend multilingual care or other tailored services
  • Close HEDIS care gaps (improving health plan ratings)

• Building trust through virtual coaching increases participation in preventive care and screenings.

• Quote:

  “When we have partners who are able to build trust through care navigation, through coaching, it just improves the overall member experience and engagement in all of our programs.” (11:39, Melanie Fernando)

Measuring ROI & Success

• ROI is measured by improvements in:

  • Member engagement and retention
  • PCP visits and preventative care participation
  • Reduction in avoidable emergency room usage
  • Evidence-based tracking of healthcare system usage pre- and post-program engagement

• Quote:

  “There’s a very clear link between our members going to their PCP and regularly scheduled health appointments and their ultimate health outcomes.” (12:40, Melanie Fernando)

Future Opportunities in Women’s Health & Medicaid

• Continuing focus on hardest-to-reach populations—often with poorest outcomes and least primary/specialty care access.

• Expanding programs in maternal health, leveraging Illinois’ Medicaid expansion to cover doulas, lactation consultants, and midwives.

• Monitoring care gaps and tailoring interventions (e.g., ensuring children attend well visits).

• Quote:

  “Our intent and objective is to have true population health programming for every age and every stage… from twinkle to wrinkle.” (16:50, Melanie Fernando)

Advice for Industry Leaders (18:11)

• There is no “one size fits all” in Medicaid.

• Essential to prioritize:

  • Cultural competence
  • Trust-building
  • Responsive, two-way member feedback
  • Flexible, member-preferred communication and service modalities

• Don’t be afraid to dismantle and rebuild legacy programs if they’re not working.

• Quote:

  “Medicaid is such a unique population … many approaches that work for other lines of business and insurance don’t work for the Medicaid population.” (18:14, Melanie Fernando)

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “It was shocking. So that really was a call to action to me.” (01:30)
• “Menopause and perimenopausal symptoms aren’t widely talked about… It’s kind of like a silent suffering.” (03:21)
• “Medicaid is historically and currently the hardest population to reach… So 30% floor… but if we exceed that then it’s a home run.” (07:11)
• “When we have partners who are able to build trust through care navigation, through coaching, it just improves the overall member experience.” (11:39)
• “From twinkle to wrinkle.” (16:50)
• “There really is no one size fits all… [Medicaid] solutions need to include cultural competence, building trust, meeting members where they are…” (18:14)

Conclusion

Melanie Fernando emphasizes Aetna Better Health of Illinois’s commitment to redefining women’s health access for Medicaid members through data-driven, partnership-centric, and highly personalized strategies. Their work with Electra Health on menopause care is a pioneering effort to address historically ignored needs and drive lasting quality improvement, tailored outreach, and meaningful member engagement across all life stages.