RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) has finalized a plan to pay millions of dollars back to a pharmaceutical company to resolve a billing issue that forced cuts to programs that provide HIV services to low-income and underinsured Virginians.
The magnitude of the billing error was also recently revealed after VDH initially redacted that information in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from CBS 6.
Providers sent ‘into a crisis’
Last year, some Virginia clinics that participated in the Ryan White Part B program, a federal initiative that aims to provide care for those living with HIV and prevent spread of HIV, learned they were taking a significant funding cut to their programs.
“When that news came and came suddenly, it was devastating,” Karen Legato, executive director of the Health Brigade in Richmond, told CBS 6 in a previous interview. “You go into a crisis mode at that point.”…