2026 Copic Medical Foundation grants

Gerald Zarlengo, MD

Chairman & CEO Copic Insurance Company

At Copic, we believe our role extends beyond medical liability insurance to help strengthen the systems that patients and clinicians rely on. This belief led to the creation of the Copic Medical Foundation in 1991, which was established as a nonprofit to invest in ideas and partnerships that support medicine and the communities we serve.

Over time, the Foundation’s commitment has grown across multiple states with more than $14 million awarded to individuals and organizations working to improve patient care and outcomes. Our annual grant funding focuses on efforts to reduce fragmentation, an important issue that comes with tangible consequences – avoidable readmissions, missed diagnoses, medication errors, delayed treatment, duplicative testing, and a frustrating experience for patients and clinicians alike. 

The Foundation’s 2026 grant recipients include organizations working across health care delivery, community care, research, and workforce development to improve continuity of care:

• Greater Regional Medical Center (IA): Expanding mobile integrated health care to deliver safer, more coordinated post-discharge care through in-home follow-up.

• North Dakota State College of Science Foundation (ND): Building a community health worker training program to strengthen care continuity across rural and Tribal communities.

• MedStar Health Research Institute (MD): Advancing an AI-enabled virtual pulmonary clinic to improve follow up and reduce missed cancer diagnoses.

• Promise Healthcare (IL): Improving perinatal care coordination and mental health support for low income and uninsured mothers.

• Northwest Center (WA): Expanding a hospital-to-home model to better support families transitioning home from the NICU.

• City Care (OK): Providing medical respite and coordinated services to support recovery and safe transitions for people experiencing homelessness. 

These projects reflect the Foundation’s continued investment in practical, collaborative approaches to improving care transitions and reducing system fragmentation. They also represent ideas that are sustainable, feasible, and can be replicated and scaled to have a broader impact.

Connected to our grant funding is the annual Copic Medical Foundation Grantee Summit. This event was held April 30-May 1 and brought together both past and new grantees. The focus for this year was on how health care systems can become more future ready while remaining deeply human centered amid rapid systemic and technological change. As healthcare continues to evolve through digital tools, data innovation, and emerging AI driven solutions designed to reduce fragmentation, the Summit examined a critical question: how can these advances truly improve care if people – patients, families, clinicians, and communities – are not kept at the center of decision making?

The Summit provides an in-person opportunity to reinforce our commitment to building a collaborative community. By convening grantees across disciplines, regions, and care settings, the Foundation continues to support shared learning and cross pollination of ideas that help translate innovation into meaningful, real-world improvements.

Mark your calendars: In November 2026, we will open submissions for our 2027 grant funding cycle. Visit www.copic.com/foundation for more information.