(Eagan, Minn.) June 10, 2020 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Blue Plus today announced $60,000 in funding support to the Arrowhead Health Alliance (AHA), a collaboration between the Health and Human Services agencies of Carlton, Cook, Lake, Koochiching and St. Louis counties in northeastern Minnesota. The funding will support the AHA’s Arrowhead Telepresence Coalition, enabling the organization to purchase and distribute Internet devices and hardware to individuals in the region who are most in need of access to telehealth services. The AHA is anticipating as many as 300 to 400 new telehealth users due to the COVID-19 related concerns on in-person visits to health care clinics and hospitals.
“Improving access to care in greater Minnesota is a priority,” said Christine Reiten, vice president of Medicaid at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “Helping people gain access to virtual care will have long term as well as immediate benefits, especially for people concerned about exposure to COVID-19 during the pandemic.”
“Health care providers are working quickly to change the way they deliver services, making virtual appointments easier than ever, but we also need to make sure that people have the right technology to be able to take advantage of virtual services,” said Ric Schaefer, director of the Arrowhead Health Alliance. “We have the telepresence network, connections and human resources, so the financial support for equipment is exactly the kind of help we need right now. Sometimes all we need to provide is a webcam and sometimes it’s a tablet or more.”
Blue Plus expects that more people will be able to maintain their care relationship with their local providers through telehealth services even after this pandemic, which will help address access challenges in outstate Minnesota.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. A nonprofit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the largest health plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.9 million members in Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Blue Plus are nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago.
About Arrowhead Health Alliance
Arrowhead Health Alliance (AHA) is a collaboration between the Health and Human Services agencies of Carlton, Cook, Lake, Koochiching and St. Louis counties in northeastern Minnesota. AHA operates as its own governmental entity and works to help residents access services and counties access funding opportunities. They serve as a virtual hub of innovation and resource development for member counties.