Hope for healing Richmond Free Press Affordable housing for whom?

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Bon Secours Richmond is starting to receive positive feedback from advocates who had harshly criticized the hospital system for allegedly failing to re-invest income from a federal discount pricing program into low-income communities, most notably Richmond Community Hospital and low-income residents living nearby.

In a statement released Monday, the Richmond Coalition for Health Equity reported “signs of progress” following behindthe-scenes talks between advocates and Bon Secours’ Richmond leadership over the use of savings from the federal 340B program.

“Those talks were frank, candid and often encouraging,” according to the statement issued by Brian W. Bills, a coalition leader and director of federal policy and advocacy for Upstream USA, which promotes ways to reduce unplanned pregnancies.

According to the statement, financial information

Next week, City Council plans to declare an affordable housing crisis in Richmond as rents and house prices soar, leaving many with below average incomes unable to afford housing.

However, neither the council nor Mayor Levar M. Stoney who has pushed the resolution to be voted on Monday, April 10, plan to mention the ways he and the governing body have quietly reduced funding to support development of housing for families with incomes of $40,000 or less a year.

The new Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital’s

End not respond to a Free Press request for comment. Still, Bon Secours did not offer any significant objections ahead of the statement’s release. The coalition acknowledged that financial information that Bon Secours shared during the talks does appear to show that Bon Secours is re-investing the millions of dollars received from 340B into Rich-

Building that opened in January was a positive step toward healing after last September’s New York Times article that criticized Bon Secours for failing to re-invest funds into low-income communities. shared during the talks indicate Bon Secours is committed to improving health services for low-income people using the savings gained through the 340B program, which allows certified hospitals to charge insurance companies full price primarily for cancer drugs after buying them at a program discount.

Bon Secours, which received the statement in advance of its release, did not include any comment in the coalition’s message. The health system also did