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After the letter went out in January, the New Canton facility wasn’t open quite as much. Even now, Central Virginia Health Services (CVHS) says they’re working on what long-term stability looks like. The operation, which runs medical facilities in Buckingham, Prince Edward and Charlotte counties, as well as 21 others in Virginia, receives part of its funding from the federal government. And on Jan. 27, that funding was temporarily suspended. 

On that date, the federal Office of Management and Budget sent a memo directing all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.” That covered everything from federal grants to loans and other financial assistance programs, sparking confusion among federal and state agencies, schools, hospitals, and nonprofits that rely on federal funding to serve the public.

“When the Executive Order came out in January regarding the freezing of government payments, we were very concerned because we were initially impacted and not able to access the funds we have allocated to us to serve our patients,”  CVHS Chief Executive Officer Paula Tomko shared. “The initial confusion that was created did have Community Health Centers (CHCs) across the state, and nation, very concerned because those funds represent about 10% of our budget and it would be a huge loss.”

CVHS weathered the freeze by limiting things like travel, non-critical purchases, and hours worked. That goes for their New Canton operation, located at 25892 N. James Madison Highway; the Farmville facility, located at 833 Buffalo Street or even their healthcare spot in Charlotte County, located at 165 LeGrande Avenue in Charlotte Court House. The organization also relied on reserves while their congressionally allotted federal funding was inaccessible. While yes, hours of operation were reduced for a while, none of the facilities fully closed, Tomko said. 

Concerns for New Canton and beyond

The nonprofit organization, which provides healthcare to a number of Medicaid patients and some residents without health insurance, is still figuring out the long-term plan and what they would do if the federal funding isn’t available. 

“We still have concerns about the impact on CHCs if there are major cuts to Medicaid funding which impact enrollment and covered services,” Tomko said. “Many CHCs are the primary care home for a large majority of Medicaid covered individuals. They will still be welcome to get care at a CHC if they become uninsured and use our sliding scale fee schedule, however, the impact of this loss of funding could impact services and a location’s ability to operate going forward.”

Following the President’s federal funding freeze memo, organizations due to receive federal grants and loans across the country began experiencing issues logging onto the payment management system to access funds. Tomko said it took at least two weeks for CVHS to regain access to federal funding. She said just last week, the health centers in New Canton, Farmville and around the region reported that they are back to getting requests in the payment center on a normal schedule. But the information they’re getting now is different than what’s been provided in the past, in terms of requirements. So they’re still working through the confusion. 

“There is concern about how we respond to the orders,” Tomko said. ”We want to be in compliance with the guidelines so that we can retain our federal funding to make sure we can continue to serve our communities as much as possible. In some cases we require a little more direction because the direction is a little different than what is in our agreements.”

What happens next? 

Uncertainty will likely remain in the months to come for CVHS and other federal and state agencies, schools, hospitals, and nonprofits that rely on federal funding to serve communities as the battle over the since rescinded memo wages on in federal court. On Feb. 28, a coalition of 23 state attorneys general filed a second motion for enforcement in their ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration’s freeze of federal funding, alleging that despite multiple court orders, the administration has continued to block hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to the states.