Fredericksburg Area Health and Support Services (FAHASS) recently laid off six employees after a 50% reduction in funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grant that supports low-income individuals living with the disease.
The program takes the form of a federal grant that was administered by the state. FAHASS previously received $1.7 million per year from the grant, but that sum was reduced to $850,000. So, on May 9, the organization reduced its staff by 25%.
“My biggest concern right now is collaborating with our regional partners because they were cut as well and trying to figure out how many people are they going to be able to maintain on their caseload,” FAHASS Executive Director Joseph Lyttle told the Free Press. “For example, U.Va. has reached out to us to see if we could absorb some of their clients out in the more western part of our region, the Culpeper area. We’re trying to assess that right now … just figuring out how we can stop people from falling through the cracks and falling out of services.”
FAHASS was established in 1992 and focuses on “inclusive, compassionate care for all,” according to its website. It specializes in HIV care, LGBTQ support and outpatient care for all.
Lyttle said the positions that were cut include medical case managers and social service navigators. He said leadership can reshuffle the duties of others, but he is mainly concerned about the number of employees cut.
“The amount of people that have been lost is really impacting us because it means higher caseloads for everyone else,” Lyttle said. “We only work 40 hours a week, so trying to squeeze in all the work that’s not done is going to be a challenge for us.”
According to health policy organization KFF, the Ryan White grant is the third-largest source of federal funding for HIV/AIDS care, behind only Medicare and Medicaid. In FY 2022, it was funded at $2.5 billion.
Some of the programs that were funded by the grant include: mental health services for the uninsured; housing case management; medical transportation; rental and utility assistance; emergency food and fuel assistance; an oral health program; support groups for psycho-social support; health insurance premium and co-pay assistance and medical assistance for non-HIV prescriptions.
Three programs under the Ryan White grant remain funded — outpatient ambulatory health services, medical case management and non-medical case management.
Lyttle said that although mental health services for the uninsured were cut, FAHASS did not lay off its mental health counselor. The organization’s board of directors will meet on Wednesday as leadership seeks ways to support the mental health program.
“We’re trying to maintain that program and find new funding,” Lyttle said.
FAHASS recently completed its three-year strategic plan, and Lyttle is hopeful that it will put it ahead of schedule in the rebuilding process. Lyttle said the long-term goal is to be less dependent on grants.
FAHASS receives “nominal” funding from local governments, but the bulk of the resources are provided by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission and the Washington, D.C. Health Department. Lyttle said leaders are attempting to figure out what they can still provide without the grant, to “make sure people are still getting some of the services they have been used to over the last couple of decades.”
“We want to focus more on our social enterprises and expanding some of our other programs that bring in revenue that will support some of the programs that we lost,” Lyttle said. “But on the front end of it, it’s going to be a very painful learning curve.”
