This week Aetna announced the launch of its Mobile Assistant App for non-US-based members that aims to make it easier for them submit health claims and receipts by snapping a photo of them with their smartphones. The free app is now available in Apple's AppStore and for Android users through Google Play.

The app is currently available to Aetna's international customers who live outside of the US, but a version for US expats will also launch later this year. Aetna noted that the app is not available to members who live in China, because regulations in that country require that original documents be submitted.

Using the smartphone's camera to scan and submit health insurance claims has been available from various insurance companies for years. In 2011 we reported on the rise of camera phones' role in the automation of healthcare-related paperwork.

Curiously, Aetna's main mobile app, called Aetna Mobile, does offer its members the ability to view the past five claims they submitted, but it does not include a camera-enabled claims submission feature.

Aetna also announced this week that it was reviving the Healthagen brand, which used to be the parent company name of iTriage, the mobile health company that Aetna acquired in 2011. The new Healthagen division at Aetna will include Aetna’s population health management solutions and health information technologies from ActiveHealth Management, iTriage, and Medicity. Sharp eyes trolling the list of exhibitors at HIMSS would have noticed that Healthagen has been on there for weeks alongside subsidiaries like iTriage.

More on the Healthagen division formation in the Aetna announcement here.