By day, Meg McCarthy is surrounded by state-of-the-arttechnology in her role as senior vice president and CIO at one ofthe country's largest health insurance providers. At night and onweekends, she enjoys overseeing the restoration of old houses andautomobiles, with an iPod as her only link to contemporaryequipment.

"I don't use a lot of modern technology in my restoration work,but I do love to listen to my iPod," she says.

During the workweek, however, McCarthy is more likely to beconnected to one of two BlackBerrys or her laptop than a musicaldevice. As CIO at Aetna, based in Hartford, Conn., McCarthyoversees more than 3,000 employees and 1,500 offshore partners. Herteam, which works on more than 300 projects a year, is responsiblefor Aetna's IT architecture, solution delivery, infrastructure, andnetwork services capabilities.

The IT group's current portfolio includes implementing customerdesktop capabilities to provide 360-degree views of members forservice center staff, enhancing Aetna's IT infrastructure withservice-oriented architecture, and launching an interactivepersonal health record (PHR) pilot in February.

Aetna is integrating its CareEngine System capability into PHRsto offer members online access to personalized healthcare messagesand alerts. Developed by ActiveHealth Management, a stand-alonebusiness of Aetna, CareEngine is a proprietary technology platformthat scans members' health data and claims information againstmedical literature. The system then alerts members and theirphysicians about medical news or opportunities to improvehealthcare. Members will be able to access and update their PHRsthrough Aetna Navigator, the company's online portal.

"The ability to keep pace with what is going on in theliterature is a big challenge for physicians," McCarthy says. "Forclinicians and members to have ready access to this information onan ongoing basis is pretty exciting."

McCarthy also has set an aggressive schedule to help Aetnaachieve CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) Level 3 withina 36-month period. In 2005, Aetna reached Level 2 after only 18months. Its Level 3 assessment is scheduled in February.

Another priority is to enrich the IT staff's capabilitiesthrough training and professional growth opportunities. More than80 IT employees now are certified project managers, up from 10several years ago, and 170 have been trained. "We want to make surewe're building the appropriate subject-matter expertiseinternally," McCarthy says.

The push to improve Aetna's IT infrastructure, product delivery,and skill sets comes from Aetna's chairman and CEO, Ronald A.Williams, and retired chief executive John W. Rowe, M.D., whodeveloped a multiyear strategic plan to turn the company around inthe early 2000s.

"As the healthcare industry continues to change and become morecompetitive, we need speed and flexibility in IT to workeffectively with our business partners," McCarthy explains. "Wefocused on improving our processes and training our people, andwe're now delivering large portfolios each year."

McCarthy has spent her entire career in IT and healthcareoperations. After earning her bachelor's degree in philosophy fromProvidence College, she joined the U.S. Navy to help pay forgraduate school. She earned a master's in public health, hospitaladministration, at Yale University and worked at Bethesda NavalHospital.

Her experience includes stints at two consulting firms: AndersenConsulting (Accenture) as a senior manager on IT and healthcareengagements, and Ernst & Young as a partner in its IT andPerformance Improvement practice.

In 2000, McCarthy moved to the payor side of the industry assenior vice president of IT at CIGNA Corp. She joined Aetna in 2003as vice president of Business Solutions Delivery and was promotedto CIO in August 2005.

In addition to using her BlackBerrys, laptop, and iPod, McCarthyrelies on a wireless network at home to stay connected. Eventually,she hopes to purchase a high-definition TV but is not in anyhurry.

"Because I have a tendency to like old things, I also have ahard time getting rid of things," McCarthy admits. "Once you godown the path of high definition, you have to get an entire suiteof new products." TD