Rx Medicines
Too many patients can’t afford to fill their prescriptions. Forced to choose between spending hundreds of dollars at the local pharmacy or paying for rent or food, many uninsured Virginians simply throw their prescriptions away.
Others try to stretch their medications by taking their drugs every other day or cutting their pills in half — making the medications virtually worthless.
The result? Chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease spiral out of control, resulting in debilitating illnesses, hospitalizations or even more serious consequences.
How VHCF is helping
VHCF is committed to addressing this crisis and has helped connect patients with hundreds of millions of dollars in free medications.
- VHCF’s The Pharmacy Connection (TPC) makes it easier for medical providers to obtain free medications for chronically ill patients through pharmaceutical company Patient Assistance Programs. TPC software streamlines everything from determining patient eligibility to ordering, tracking and reporting. More than 110 pharmaceutical companies are TPC partners. To-date, TPC has generated more than $1 billion in free medications.
- RxRelief Virginia supports medication assistance caseworkers in economically disadvantaged areas who help chronically ill patients receive free medications. Using TPC, RxRelief Virginia caseworkers connected nearly 20,000 uninsured Virginians with $71.8 million in free medicines last year alone.
- VHCF administers the Greater Williamsburg Medication Assistance Program (GWMAP), funded by the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation. GWMAP caseworkers use TPC to help patients at seven locations.
- RxPartnership (RxP) solicits free medications in bulk from pharmaceutical companies for nonprofit, licensed affiliate pharmacies, allowing them to provide free medicines to patients on the day they’re prescribed. RxP partners, including the many of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies have donated tens of millions of dollars in free medicines to-date. Since the program’s inception, more than 39 thousand patients have received medication with a total value of $48.7 million.
- VHCF provides access to comprehensive resources on starting and operating Medication Assistance Programs (MAPS) in Virginia.
Many VHCF grantees utilize VHCF’s The Pharmacy Connection to help their clients receive urgently needed medications for chronic illnesses. For their patients, the medications mean the difference between health and illness and, sometimes, life and death.
Through its grants and initiatives directed toward Rx medications, VHCF is making a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of Virginians statewide.
