Health News
2006-01-14
Whitman-Walker
will focus on primary health care
D.C. clinic will
emphasize both primary health care and HIV services.
The
Whitman-Walker Cli
The
Whitman-Walker Clinic, which in 2005 made sweeping program
cuts and staff layoffs in an effort to balance its
budget, this week announced that it has stabilized its
finances and plans to focus more on primary medical
care in addition to its HIV programs, The
Washington Post reports. The increased focus on
primary health care is part of a move to generate more
income from clinic patients with private insurance.
“We believe this model will place the clinic firmly
on the road to long-term financial stability and
enable us to serve a broader clientele more
efficiently and effectively,” Roberta
Geidner-Antoniotti , Whitman-Walker's interim executive
director, told the Post. “If anything,
this new model will enable us to better serve [our]
constituencies.”
Whitman-Walker
has a budget of $25.6 million for fiscal 2006, down about
$5 million from its initial 2005 budget.
Financial
problems—some created by long delays in payments by
the D.C. health department for services—caused
Whitman-Walker in mid 2005 to cut $2.5 million from
its budget and end or scale back its food bank,
emergency financial assistance, case management, and housing
programs. The clinic also laid off nearly 70
employees and permanently closed a satellite location
in suburban Maryland. A second satellite office in
suburban Virginia also was set to be closed, but several
local groups and governments contributed enough money
to keep the clinic open through the end of 2006.
(Advocate.com)
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