Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade (12.19.08) - Monday, December 22, 2008
Amy Cavanaugh
Whitman-Walker's Northern Virginia clinic will be shuttered before April 2009; residential programs including the Bridge Back Program will end Feb. 28; and up to 45 employees will be terminated over the next year. About half the firings will stem from shutting the Virginia clinic, and the other half will be administrative and program cutbacks. The administrative layoffs will occur by year's end, and program- related layoffs will happen by March 31.
"We're down 28 percent in private donations this year compared to 2007," said Donald Blanchon, Whitman-Walker's CEO. "For an organization that gets 30 cents of every dollar from private sources, to be down that significantly puts us in a difficult position."
"If you look at third-party reimbursements, typically the reimbursement rate doesn't cover the cost of our care," Blanchon said. "It's difficult to do this work if the gap between the cost per visit and what you're getting from the insurance company isn't sufficient to close that gap." Medicaid is part of the diminishing revenue stream, he said, as is funding from government entities.
The 1,010 patients at the Northern Virginia clinic will be able to transfer to Whitman-Walker's Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center in Washington or the Max Robinson Center in Anacostia.
Whitman-Walker will concentrate on offering primary medical care, HIV and STD screening, and dental and mental health services, Blanchon said. "We're going from 175 employees to almost 130 employees, and as we shrink our workforce to only primary care, we don't need as much management since there's a smaller number to oversee," he said. Any new positions would be geared to generating revenue and improving efficiencies, he added.
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