Grim headlines have become the daily norm. But something much bigger is rumbling beneath all this – the great American machine. Like other crises we’ve faced as a nation, once again, we’re seeing what makes our country special, with everyone coming together looking for ways to pitch in and do their part to protect our families, neighbors, and our country.

In fact, so many are stepping outside their norms to contribute.

For example, Ford, 3M, and GE are working with the government to manufacture respirators and ventilators to increase production of lifesaving equipment. Distilleries are making and distributing hand sanitizer to the brave men and women serving on the front-lines of the crisis – first responders, clinicians in hospitals and doctors’ offices. Apparel companies are stepping up, making masks to increase the supply of critical personal protective equipment. Donations are pouring in to Feeding America and other organizations.

I could go on, but companies of all shapes and sizes are caring for their employees and breaking down barriers to support our communities and those most vulnerable to COVID-19.

This movement is also evident within the health care industry with strong collaboration and partnerships happening across the sector, including with the government. Our industry is uniting with rapid speed. Just last week, we came together as one voice calling on Vice President Pence and Congressional leaders to urgently create capacity within the entire health care system. We unanimously called for increasing testing and improving the national supply of critical medical equipment to meet unprecedented demand, protect front-line clinicians, and improve treatment for patients.

With public-private partnerships within health care at an all-time high, the silver lining in all of this is we’re building a foundation where private companies and the government can make the health care system – and our country – better.

My teammates and I at Humana take our role in this crisis very seriously. We know we’re uniquely positioned and see it as our responsibility to help and protect our members and provider partners during this unprecedented health crisis.

One of our first priorities was ensuring our employees were physically and financially safe, allowing them to fully support our members and providers. Our technology and human resources teams moved quickly in repositioning our 46,000 employees to work at home by helping with technology needs and access to childcare services and expanding personal time off so our colleagues can manage their personal obligations. 

Importantly, we kept areas of our company that had to remain operational, like clinics, safe by following strict protocols, including significantly expanding the amount of space between people, doing an intense cleaning regimen and ensuring access to proper protection supplies.

We also moved quickly to work with our industry partners, and in collaboration with our government, to assist our members, health care providers and our nation. Together, we:

• Agreed to cover in full all testing for COVID-19 with no out-of-pocket costs at approved laboratory locations for patients who meet CDC guidelines. This applies to members of Humana’s Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial employer-sponsored plans.
• Expanded availability of telehealth services, including telephonic services, for members by waiving their cost sharing for all telehealth services delivered by participating/in-network providers. We did this to reduce the spread of the virus and to help our members access critical health care from their home.
• Partnered with hospitals to build capacity in regions facing particular challenges and to simplify the transfer and discharge of patients from hospitals to the safest, clinically appropriate care setting.
• Supported the government’s efforts to get the word out on ways to stop the spread of the virus via a national paid messaging campaign.

Humana has also setup a special call center to answer our members’ questions and concerns about COVID-19. The call center enables us to help ease members’ worries, assist them in refilling their prescriptions, arrange for meals to be delivered to their home, and simply serve as someone they can talk to.

Equally as important, we’re strengthening community support through the Humana Foundation. Like many other organizations, we are active in helping communities with things like access to testing, food delivery and helping people pay utility and housing expenses. 

Our work is charging forward.

We’re partnering with state and local government to help leverage our internal capabilities and expertise to address challenges they’re facing, such as sourcing personal protective equipment through procurement channels and helping translate data to provide insights about future population health modeling and capacity demand.

Today’s circumstances calls for an “all hands” approach—those serving on the front-lines, local, state and federal governments, and private industry.

Getting it right for the people of our nation means all of us doing our part, and doing it together.