The Moss Free Clinic is asking the community to support its efforts by donating $1 million on Tuesday, May 28, during its inaugural Day of Giving.
Donations will enable the clinic to continue to provide medical and dental care, screenings and treatments and free medications to uninsured and underinsured individuals.
The clinic was established more than 30 years ago, but has faced the possible threat of closure as the long-term relationship between Moss and Mary Washington Healthcare has changed. Moss officials want to stress that the clinic, which has served more than 16,000 patients since 1993, isn’t going anywhere.
“One thing the board and leadership is hoping to dispel is the idea the clinic is going to disappear,” said Corie Bacher, director of development and community engagement. “We are committed to meeting the needs of our community and to the model of a free clinic.”
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In 2003, when the clinic was built on the Mary Washington Hospital campus in Fredericksburg, community members raised $10 million, which included money for construction and an ongoing fund to be used for yearly operations.
When that fund began to dwindle in recent years, MWHC officials started meeting with Moss staff and board members. The health care system’s leadership offered to take over operations of the clinic, but Moss board members resisted, concerned that its dental program and free prescription program would be cut.
Moss declined the offer, and MWHC said it viewed the clinic as a separate entity. It started charging Moss for in-kind services that had been provided for free for three decades.
Those costs plus the loss of operating funds mean Moss Free Clinic has to come up with another $1 million a year toward its $2.5 million annual expenses.
At a rally to “Save the Moss Free Clinic” last month, supporters gathered in the Fredericksburg Shopping Center and heard speakers talk about how much patients need the services the clinic provides.
“There is no place like the Moss Free Clinic around here, we take care of everybody no matter what,” said Dr. Lloyd Moss Jr., whose father founded the facility. “It’s a one-stop shop where they can get everything.”
He stressed that “we’re here to make sure it stays community-based and not affiliated with any other association around here that wants to make changes.”
Mary Washington Healthcare officials stress that the medical climate has changed in recent years and that there are other clinics and programs in place to help the needy. Its Graduate Medical Education program, in which doctors who’ve earned degrees will do their residencies through Mary Washington Hospital, is estimated to bring 157 resident physicians to the community by 2029.
Low-income residents will be able to get treatment in some of those primary care offices, according to MWHC.
But Dr. Patrick Neustatter, medical director at Moss, expressed his concern at the rally about patients “who are not very good at navigating the jungle of health care.” He said other options won’t provide one place where people can get medical and dental care, medicine, counseling in behavioral health or help from a social worker.
“Even the (Fredericksburg Regional) Food Bank comes by,” Neustatter said.
Those services come with a price, and MWHC has questioned how efficiently Moss has operated. According to the 2023 report on Moss Free Clinic, the 1,249 patients treated last year received $7.24 million in care. That’s about $5,800 per patient, but that also includes treatment across a number of platforms, including specialty care visits.
More information about Moss services, and the Day of Giving, is available at its website, mossfreeclinic.org, on Facebook and Instagram. In addition, checks can be made out to “Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic” and mailed to 1301 Sam Perry Blvd., Fredericksburg, VA 22401.