SPORTS: District wrestling report, track meet recap, boys and girls basketball. PAGES 19, 20, 21 February 8, 2023
Our 206th year | Vol. 206, No. 6 | www.Fauquier.com | $1.50 VIRGINIA PRESS ASSOCIATION: BEST SMALL NEWSPAPER IN VIRGINIA 2017-2021
Fauquier Hospital offers less financial help to patients than other hospitals in Virginia, U.S. The hospital’s charity care declined 38% in two years
Appeals court rules animal cruelty case against Irina Barrett can move forward By Robin Earl
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
By Colleen LaMay
was that people who would have qualified for financial aid at Fauquier Hospital don’t need it now because Medicaid picks up the tab. However, spokeswoman Sarah Cubbage, director of marketing and public relations, declined to elaborate. “We have provided as much information as we can share,” Cubbage said Friday, Feb. 3. She referred the Fauquier Times to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, a trade group representing hospitals.
After almost three years in court, a criminal case against Irina Barrett of Broad Run on five felony animal cruelty charges can move forward. However, it won’t do so for another 10 months. A jury trial date Irina Barett for the case has been set for Nov. 13 to 16. It is a ruling from the Court of Appeals of Virginia that is allowing the case to be heard.
See HOSPITAL, page 4
See BARRETT, page 9
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
Fauquier Hospital provides significantly less charity care than most other hospitals in Virginia and other for-profit hospitals nationwide, according to 2019 data, the most recent available for comparisons. In addition, the hospital’s charity care plunged 38% between 2018 and 2020, according to data the hospital provided to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS. Charity care declined precipitously even though the hospital’s expenses remained about the same, around $136 million annually, according to the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank. Charity care is the amount of free or discounted care hospitals provide to low-income patients who lack health insurance or are underinsured. Communities of color comprise the largest share of the uninsured in Fauquier County. A hospital spokeswoman said the recent decline in charity care coincided with an expansion in Virginia’s Medicaid program, a government health insurance program that serves mainly the very poor. The implication
Legendary horseman James Wofford dies Nov. 3, 1944, to Feb. 2, 2023 By Betsy Burke Parker
Special to the Fauquier Times
COURTESY PHOTO
James Wofford was a well-known figure in the equestrian community.
One of the world’s most respected horsemen, sportsmen, writers and raconteurs, Upperville’s James C. “Jimmy” Wofford died Feb. 2, following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 78. Wofford’s impact on the Fauquier, Virginia, U.S. and global equestrian community as a rider, trainer, mentor and horseman was immeasurable. He was equally well regarded in the fishing community and was an active member of the northern Fauquier community. A graduate of the Culver Military Academy in Indiana, Wofford studied at the University of Colorado’s school of business. See WOFFORD, page 5
FAUQUIER TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ROBIN EARL
Preschooler hurt in bus crash
A sedan crashed into the back of a school bus in the southbound lanes of Broadview Avenue the morning of Feb. 7. SEE PAGE 2
17-year-old running for board of supervisors. See page 3
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