Aetna closing delivery office, laying off 106

Health insurance giant Aetna, newly merged with CVS Health, is closing its mail-order prescription delivery operation in Plantation and eliminating 106 South Florida jobs, the company announced.

Employees at the home delivery site at 1600 SW 80th Terrace were notified of the company’s plans on March 13, according to a letter by Juliet Palmer, executive director of Rx Operations, to the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity’s Worker Act and Retraining Notification program.

Aetna expects the affected positions to be eliminated by May 13, the letter said.

The decision stems from the ongoing consolidation of functions within the combined company, Aetna spokeswoman Anjie Coplin said in an email Monday. Aetna and CVS closed their $70 billion merger in November. CVS came into the merger with its own prescription drug home delivery service.

“As part of the integration process, we have been reviewing opportunities to consolidate our operations to improve productivity and eliminate duplication,” according to a written statement from Coplin. “After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close the Aetna Rx Home Delivery location in Plantation.”

Positions to be permanently eliminated include29 pharmacy technicians, 27 accounts receivable analysts, 13 data entry operators, seven pharmacists, seven pharmacy operations team leaders, five pharmacy operations supervisors, four quality consultants, three customer service consultants, two pharmacist managers, two service operations managers, two operations analysts, a help desk analyst, a supervisor of strategic planning, an operations support manager and the pharmacist in charge.

Other Aetna positions in the Plantation office building, including in the company’s Behavioral Health and Medicare business lines, will not be affected by the decision to close the home delivery operation, Coplin said. All of the laid-off employees will receive 18 weeks of salary and nine weeks of continued benefits, including two months of subsidized COBRA health insurance rates and job placement services, the company said in its notice to the state.

Employees may also be eligible for additional severance “depending on their pay and years of service,” Aetna said.