Virginia Preventive Care Program Could Lose State Funding

Healthy Families Virginia -- a program that primarily focuses on preventing child abuse, but also helps women with prenatal care, immunizing their children and preventing unintended pregnancies -- could lose state funding if cuts proposed by former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) are enacted, the Norfolk Virginia-Pilot/Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The program, a joint project between the state's social services and health departments, is based on a "central tenet of modern health care" -- that it is "ultimately cheaper" to prevent problems than to treat them. Under the program, modeled after a "widely acclaimed" service offered in Hawaii and launched in 1992, about 50 social workers visit 750 families on a weekly basis, providing new parents with information about the health and well-being of their children. Social workers begin targeting women when they first seek prenatal care. An evaluation of Healthy Families Virginia by College of William and Mary professors found that the program resulted in healthier pregnancies, more children being inoculated and fewer repeat teen births. The program is funded through local, state and federal governments, as well as donations from local businesses and foundations, but it faces an uncertain future because Gilmore suggested eliminating the state's $7.4 million contribution to the program in the two-year budget proposal he issued before leaving office earlier this month. Healthy Families Virginia Director Johanna Schuchert said that a loss of state funding would "force" 14 of the state's 36 programs to close and the remaining local programs to reduce services. She added, "Thousands of families will be left with no support." Although Louis Rossiter, former state secretary of health and human resources, called Healthy Families Virginia a "fine program," he said that program officials need "to get away from constantly lobbying the General Assembly and demonstrate [the program's] worth to the community." He added that program officials should consider applying for more federal funding (Sizemore/Simpson, Norfolk Virginia-Pilot/Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/29).