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As COVID-19 Response Shifts, Medica Extends Commitment to Members, Community Partners and Long-Term Care Partners

Health Insurer Will Provide Masks, Personal Protection Equipment and Critical Resources and Information

May 22, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS — States will ease restrictions to allow more businesses and services to open beginning June 1 and Medica is responding with increased efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its members and partners.

Beginning next week, Medica will begin distributing more than 200,000 disposable protective masks to members who are at the greatest risk for experiencing complications related to COVID-19. Medica also will donate an additional 150,000 masks and other personal protection equipment to community organizations and its skilled nursing partners.

"As states begin to adjust the dials on the pandemic response, one thing that remains constant is the need to protect our members, and those who provide them with health and community services," said Medica Medical Director Dr. John Piatkowski. "Medica was able to locate a supply of masks and personal protective equipment, and we knew how important it would be to share with the individuals and communities that rely on us as their trusted partner in health care."

Medica's commitment to support the community during the pandemic began in March when employees launched a program to help manage the physical and emotional wellbeing for its at-risk members. Under the program, Medica's analytic teams developed a model to identify those members at risk for experiencing complications related to COVID-19.

Medica team members contact the identified members to provide them with resources and information to keep them as healthy as possible to avoid complications. Those outcomes will also help save health care dollars by identifying health needs that may have gone unmet.

"We have found our outreach program is filling a very important role," Piatkowski said. "Not only are we providing our members with information and resources, we also help meet their emotional needs. In some cases, Medica employees have been their only human contact since self-isolation began. We are glad we have the opportunity to take this a step further by providing masks to them."

Visit our newsroom to learn more about the ways Medica is serving the community during this pandemic.

More About Medica

Medica is a non-profit health plan headquartered in Minnesota. The company serves communities in the heart of America by providing health care coverage and related services in the employer, individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets. It operates in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Medica's vision is to be trusted in the community for our unwavering commitment to high quality, affordable health care.

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Media contact:

Medica
Greg Bury
952-992-8437
[email protected]