Clinics Helping Clinics: RxP Rebuilds Access to Medication

How has Rx Partnership built a stronger, more resilient Access to Medication Program (AMP) since the Moss Clinic closure?

When Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic in Fredericksburg abruptly closed in June 2025, it dealt a significant blow to community health care. Thousands of patients served by clinics located throughout the Commonwealth suddenly lost a vital source of medication. The closure didn’t just affect Moss’s patients, but also devastated the network of other free clinics who relied on Moss’s pharmacy services through Rx Partnership’s Access to Medication Program (AMP). 

Why the AMP Program Matters 

Rx Partnership launched the Access to Medication Program in 2017 to serve clinics without licensed pharmacies, and for eight years it successfully filled and shipped prescriptions statewide. By June 2025, AMP had grown to serve 15 clinics: in FY25 alone AMP provided 26,411 prescriptions—valued at over $12 million—to more than 3,400 patients. For many clinics, AMP is the difference between patients receiving daily, chronic medications and falling through the cracks. 

A Sudden Gap in the Health Care Safety Net

The Moss closure came with almost no warning.  Alexandra Luevano, Executive Director of the Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinics in Manassas and Woodbridge said, “the fact that it happened so suddenly with very little heads up made it very difficult for us to take action and to figure out a plan overnight.”  

Patients who had relied on Moss faced delays, extra costs, and impossible choices. “There was a huge impact [on our patients]. We used to get all our chronic medication and insulin from Moss, and it was very difficult for our patients once they realized they could no longer get those medications,” says Luevano. 

The Impact of an AMP Pause 

When Rx Partnership shared the news and suggested temporary options for medication access, clinics moved fast. While RxP staff worked over the summer to find a long-term solution, the AMP clinics hustled to fill the gaps. Ashley Hunnicutt, Executive Director of Loudoun Free Clinic in Leesburg, Virginia shared that they had to mobilize quickly to develop a work-around. Hunnicutt credits the clinic’s pharmacy program coordinator, Karen, for being extremely organized and for managing the change from filling prescriptions through Moss Clinic to having their providers write scripts to local retail pharmacies. “We are equipped in our area to send our patients to retail pharmacies, and we have an account at our local Costco and the pharmacists there work with us,” she shared.

Like most of the AMP clinics, Mother of Mercy also explored ways of obtaining medications for their patients through Patient Assistance Programs offered through pharmaceutical companies but found the process challenging since these applications involve different forms for each company and can take significant staff time to complete. Luevano also reached out to several local pharmacies for discounted medications, but the discounts were not large enough to allow the clinic, or their patients, to afford the medications.  

Mother of Mercy was able to provide some patients with gift cards to help with costs, but it wasn’t enough to solve the underlying problem of continuity of care. Luevano acknowledges, “We had a lot of patients that we were able to help, but there were still those that weren’t able to get the gift cards and those who had to make decisions about whether they were going to feed their families or buy their prescriptions.” 

While clinics provided the direct assistance to patients during the height of the crisis via gift cards, retail purchases and PAP applications, Rx Partnership supported the clinics by providing over $14,000 to the AMP clinics that were impacted by the Moss closure.  Clinics used that assistance to offset the costs of medication purchased elsewhere, support the additional staff time needed for PAP applications and overall act as a bridge for patients until pharmacy services through AMP could be restored. 

Patient Assistance Programs and retail options help, but neither offer a full nor reliable solution for free clinics’ medication access needs. Cost, transportation, and waiting for medication to be delivered all contribute to patients skipping doses or going without altogether. This is why RxP developed AMP in the first place.

AMP 2.0: Rebuilding Support with New Partners 

In the past five months, Rx Partnership has worked to find solutions for the AMP clinics impacted by the Moss closure. Northern Neck-Middlesex Free Health Clinic in Kilmarnock, Virginia became an AMP Pharmacy in October 2024 serving just two clinics, but became the sole AMP Pharmacy after Moss closed. Northern Neck quickly expanded its capacity to help support additional clinics with pharmacy services. Currently, they are working with six AMP clinics: Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic, Chesapeake Care Clinic, Olde Towne Medical & Dental Center, Health Brigade, Living Water Community Clinic, and Mel Leaman Free Clinic at Emory & Henry College. 

While Moss Clinic staff volunteered their time to complete final AMP medication shipments in June, Sinclair Health Clinic in Winchester, Virginia, was already stepping forward to offer their services as Rx Partnership’s second and newest AMP Pharmacy. They began by onboarding Fauquier Free Clinic, followed by Loudoun Free Clinic, then recently onboarded Mother of Mercy Manassas and Mother of Mercy Woodbridge. 

Dr. Mercedes Abbet, Executive Director of Sinclair Health Clinic, notes that while the onboarding was a little different for each clinic based on their individual ways of doing things, over time the Sinclair pharmacy staff has been able to streamline the process. “Luckily, I have a wonderful staff. They’re very efficient, very hardworking people and they’re willing to go the extra mile to make this work,” she shares.

Dr. Abbet notes that Sinclair’s work as an AMP Pharmacy has contributed to their already expanding prescription numbers at the clinic. Since Sinclair began serving AMP clinics on September 2, they have added roughly 460 prescriptions in just two months — and those numbers will grow as onboarding continues. 

“Rx Partnership has been a great partner in connecting us with these clinics,” Dr. Abbet shares. “[They have] facilitated and communicated our needs and the AMP clinics’ needs to try and find the common ground to streamline the process for everybody… So, I believe when all is said and done and we are finished onboarding the clinics, it will be perfect.” 

Increased Medication Compliance with AMP Pharmacy Services 

Now that Loudoun Free Clinic is receiving AMP Pharmacy Services again, Executive Director Hunnicutt notes that it’s a better way to track compliance with the patients. She explains, “[Our] patients aren’t having to leave our four walls to get their prescriptions anymore. They just pick them up with us. And now we can track compliance again; If they don’t call for their refills, we call them because it means they’re not taking their medication.” 

The Future of Medication Access in Virginia 

Rx Partnership is thankful for its clinic partners that have worked tirelessly to bring health care services and pharmacy services to so many people across the Commonwealth. This dedication, paired with Rx Partnership’s statewide leadership, ensures that Virginians living with chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma, and COPD continue to receive life-saving medications. 

Rx Partnership is proud to collaborate with Sinclair and Northern Neck to strengthen Virginia’s health safety net. Yet the need is still growing: we must develop a third AMP Pharmacy to serve more clinics and what is anticipated to be a growing number of uninsured patients across the state starting in 2026.  We never again want to be in a position where the loss of one partner negatively impacts so many others.  

✨ You can help. By donating or subscribing to Rx Partnership updates, you build awareness and support Rx Partnership’s work with clinics like Sinclair and Northern Neck as we work together to leverage resources and meet rising demand. Join us in protecting and increasing access to medications for Virginians who need them most.