Aetna uses AI to improve healthcare cost transparency

Aetna, the health benefits division of CVS Health, is utilizing artificial intelligence to improve the consumer healthcare experience by reducing friction and increasing cost transparency. Nathan Frank, Aetna’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer, has shifted the company’s technological focus toward member experience rather than traditional industry priorities like cost management or cloud transformation.

A key component of this strategy is a rebuilt cost-estimation tool that covers more than 20,000 medical services. This tool allows members to use natural language and AI to estimate the costs of both simple and complex procedures before they receive care. Since implementing this AI-driven approach, usage of the cost-estimation capability has risen from below 10% to nearly 70% among members planning procedures.

CVS Health’s Health Care Benefits segment, which includes Aetna, reported $143.4 billion in revenue and served 26.6 million medical members at the end of 2025. Frank oversees a team of approximately 6,000 technologists working across thousands of platforms to modernize the connection between members, providers, and pharmacy services.