2025 Copic Medical Foundation Grants

Gerald Zarlengo, MD, Chairman & CEO, Copic Insurance Company

Since Copic was founded in the 1980s, a guiding principle has always been to support and give back to health care in ways that extend beyond the medical liability insurance we provide. This is embodied through the efforts of the Copic Medical Foundation. Established in 1991, the Foundation was created as a nonprofit to support our mission of improving medicine in the communities we serve. 

Today, the Foundation’s efforts have expanded with a national perspective and funding has surpassed $13 million to support individuals and organizations who are improving patient care and medical outcomes. Grant funding continues to be focused on initiatives that reduce fragmentation across care settings. A top concern in the field of patient safety, breakdowns in care from a fragmented health care system can lead to readmissions, missed diagnoses, medication errors, delayed treatment, duplicative testing and procedures, and reduction in quality of care leading to general patient and provider dissatisfaction.

“Each year, we review dozens of grant proposals for ideas driven by passionate people who are focused on solutions to address the issue of fragmentation of care. The ideas range from creating improved systems to direct patient engagement to training for health care professionals,” said Meredith Hintze, Executive Director of the Copic Medical Foundation. “The Foundation’s efforts help elevate these initiatives by providing financial support through grant funding, which is more crucial than ever as we see ever-changing challenges in health care. We are proud to announce this year’s recipients and highlight their innovative ideas that have the potential to be replicated across health care systems.” 

For 2025, the Foundation has awarded more than $950,000 in grants to the following six organizations:

Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation (Colorado)—The grant will support efforts to expand a Transition Care Management pilot to reach more children across their entire system of care. This program will enable them to build non-nursing roles and form an interdisciplinary team to address post-discharge challenges for medically complex and underserved children, demonstrating reimbursement value and improving discharge for all patients.

Stigler Health & Wellness Center, Inc. (Oklahoma)—The grant will support the Health & Wellness Center’s Continuing Care Program that will provide patients who have recently had a hospital or emergency department visit with in-home nursing visits and telehealth consultations. This program ensures patients understand treatment goals, have necessary supplies and resources, and receive timely visits, especially for those with serious conditions, to manage ongoing issues effectively.

St. Mary’s Health Clinics (Minnesota)—The grant will support the Community Health Empowerment Initiative (CHEI), which aims to reduce health care fragmentation for 1,200 uninsured, Spanish-speaking immigrants in the Twin Cities metro area. The initiative integrates bilingual community health workers, medication therapy management technology, and culturally tailored education to create a seamless “medical home” model for those at high risk for chronic diseases.

Children’s National Medical Center (Washington, D.C.)—The grant will support efforts to decrease fragmentation across health care settings by studying Pharm-PATHS, which is an intervention designed to increase medication safety in the home using an ambulatory, post-discharge, pharmacist-engaged telehealth visit tailored for children with medical complexity.

Nebraska Hospice and Palliative Care Association (Nebraska)—The grant will support the implementation of the MyDirectives platform as a statewide advance care planning document (ACP) registry to streamline access to ACP documents.

University of Nebraska Foundation (on behalf of Nebraska Medicine Innovation Design Unit) (Nebraska)—The grant will support a pilot of a regional virtual nursing program to enhance care coordination and continuity for patients and support staff. This initiative will evaluate the program’s success and lay the groundwork for expanding virtual care across the region, benefiting patients and clinicians with improved continuity of care and well-being.

We feel honored to support and partner with all of these organizations. They are truly at the forefront of developing ideas that will change health care for the better and further enhance patient safety. It all connects back to our mission and Copic’s dedication to improving health care.

Mark your calendars: In November 2025, we will open submissions for our 2026 grant funding cycle. Visit www.copic.com/foundation for more information.