Facts About Rockbridge Area Free Clinic and Virginia Free Clinics

What is Rockbridge Area Free Clinic?

RAFC is a private, nonprofit, community-based organization that provides medical care at no charge to low-income, uninsured persons utilizing volunteers and partnering with other health providers.

Number of Unduplicated Patients treated in FY06 = 1,182

Numbers of Patient Visits

In 2007, RAFC provided 9,393 patient visits, including primary care, specialty care, dental care, patient education and social service visits.

Value of Service

Total program services provided by RAFC in 2007 were valued at $2,378,644.

Top Ten Patient Reported Reasons for Appointments

1. Hypertension
2. Mental health
3. Diabetes
4. Dental
5. Dislipidemia
6. Cardiovascular
7. Respiratory
8. Acute Illness
9. ENT
10. Chronic Pain

Prescription Services

RAFC operates its own small licensed pharmacy. One part-time staff pharmacist and six pharmacists volunteers dispensed more than 26,175 prescriptions worth over $1,509,407 in 2007.

Volunteers at RAFC

Over 150 people currently volunteer at RAFC. These include a variety of health care professionals and administrative volunteers. Last year volunteers provided over 4000 hours of volunteer service worth over $140,000.

Community Partners

Our Community Partners provided incredible medical care, diagnostic testing, and special services in 2007. Of note is Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital's provision of lab and x-ray services valued at $256,264. Augusta Medical Center and the University of Virginia Medical Center accept patient referrals for services that cannot be provided locally.

Locally, special services were also provided through other g roups and service providers such as Blue Ridge Physical Therapy, Blue Ridge Urological Associates, Blue Ridge Podiatry, Blue Ridge Dermatology, Consultants in Cardiology, Jackson River Internists, Lexington Orthopedics, Lexington OB/Gyn, Lexington Eye Care, Dr. Marc Hudson, Dr. Daniel Hwang, Dr. William Mears, Dr. Lewis Singer, and Rockbridge Surgical Clinic.

Many other local nonprofits collaborate to aid area residents. These collaborating partners include the Rockbridge Area Relief Association, the Rockbridge Area Transportation System, Project Horizon, and the Maury River Senior Center.

Other State and Federally funded programs and organizations, such as the local health departments, Community Services Board and the Department of Rehabilitative Services, assist in the delivery of service

Patients

In the Rockbridge Area, based upon 2000 census data, 51% of the population is male and 93% of the total population is white. RAFC patients are typically female (69% of the total patient population) and 15% have a race or ethnic background other than white. Over 84% of the patient population is employed, comes from a working family or is retired. All RAFC patients have total family incomes at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Level which is approximately $31,800 for a family of four.

The Uninsured - Nationally

The cost of healthcare continues to increase sharply in the U.S. and is projected to do so over the next decade. In fact in 2004, national health expenditures rose 7.9% with total health care spending at a cost of $1.9 trillion. By 2015, health care spending is expected to increase to $4 trillion, 20% of the gross domestic product (National Coalition on Health Care, 2004).

Along with the increase in health care spending has come the increase in insurance premiums, which increased by 9.2 % in 2005. During that same year, the annual cost of employer health plan premium coverage averaged over $4,000 for an employee and nearly $11,000 for a family. Because of these increases, many employers are no longer able to offer health insurance as a benefit to their employees. If something doesn't change, health insurance costs will consume organizational profits by 2008 (National Coalition on Health Care, 2004).

In 1986, 70% of Americans had employer based insurance coverage; however, that rate dropped to 59.8% in 2004. For employers fortunate to offer insurance coverage, costs of premiums are being shifted to the employees; employee spending on health insurance increased at an alarming rate of 143% between 2000 and 2005. Employees now pay almost $2,000 more in annual premiums for family coverage than five years ago and the premiums are increasing five times faster than employee wages. As a result of the increase to employees, many do not enroll in employer-based insurance and the number of uninsured Americans continues to rise. In 2004, 15.7%, or 46 million, of the U.S. population was uninsured (National Coalition on Health Care, 2004).

Being uninsured is no longer just a problem for the poor, but for middle income families as well. At least 41% of Americans making $20,000-$40,000 annually were uninsured during 2005. That number is up from 28% only four years prior. According to Carol Pryor, senior policy analyst at Access Project, "...insurance premiums continually are going up at a rapid rate and coverage is eroding, we're finding that even moderate and middle-income families are starting to find insurance unaffordable" (Number of Middle-Income Uninsured Rising).

Lack of insurance significantly impacts Americans' access to care-even the most basic of services. Health is compromised, fewer receive preventative care, and mortality rates increase due to lack of insurance. When the uninsured seek care, they often visit the Emergency Room, where services they cannot afford are rendered. Many times, when diagnoses are made, the diseases are at more advanced states (National Coalition on Health Care, 2004).

The Uninsured - Rockbridge County

As insurance premiums continue to rise, more employers will shift the increase to the employees. As has been stated, employee spending on health insurance increased at an alarming rate of 143% between 2000 and 2005. Consequently, the number of uninsured continues to increase. In Rockbridge County and Lexington area, 20% or 2,733 members of the local population is uninsured, which is over 5% higher than that of the state of Virginia and almost 5% higher than the national rate. In Buena Vista, 11% of the population was uninsured in 2004 (Atlas of Community Health).

The rise in health insurance premiums, the decrease employer sponsored benefits and the rise in service oriented jobs are all contributors to the lack of access to health care. Many individuals avoid seeking health care because of cost. Here in Rockbridge County 11%, or 1,779 of the Rockbridge County and Lexington populations avoided seeing the doctor in 2004 because of cost. In Buena Vista, that rate was 11% (Atlas of Community Health).

Free Clinics in Virginia

Virginia has 50 Free Clinics with 61 clinic sites serving 14 cities and counties. In the U.S., only North Carolina has more Free Clinics than Virginia. Virginia is the home of the first Association of Free Clinics in the US.

Value of Services in Virginia Free Clinics

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 1,061,000 Virginians were uninsured in 2004. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Virginia ranks 49th among all states and the District of Columbia in Medicaid coverage of low-income adults (19-64).

In 2005, Virginia Free Clinics:

• provided 128,243 general medical visits and 39,016 specialty medical visits worth $18.1M; 7,720 mental health visits worth $777,000;
• provided 601,734 prescription medications worth $40.1M, and 23,351 dental visits valued at $4.9M.

A National Association of Free Clinics was established in 2002.