Without additional funding, Embry Women’s Health could lose staff and have to close COVID-19 test sites.
Clinic may lose staff or have to close testing sites
One of the leading COVID-19 testing agencies in Arizona, Embry Women’s Health, may have to close a majority of their active testing sites and lose much of their workforce if they don’t receive additional funding, said CEO Raymond Embry.
The clinic has about 60 active testing sites in 35 municipalities and 12 counties, including in rural areas that see 30 patients a day, according to Embry, who said they are currently administering about 18,000 tests a day in Arizona.
The agency opened dozens of new sites and hired hundreds of workers since they started providing testing in March — Embry said he saw a need and wanted to fill it. Now, as the clinic starts to administer vaccinations, costs are increasing and Embry said he feels unsupported in his mission to make testing as accessible as possible in Arizona.
Without increased funds from the state to support operations, Embry said he’s worried they won’t be able to serve the rural parts of Arizona and may lose half of their workforce and close about 40 of their testing sites.
“I really feel very strongly that for the sites to close would be a disservice to the community, especially when they can be used for vaccinations,” Embry said.
Embry: Insurance reimburses just $11 per COVID-19 test
Through insurance, Embry said the clinic is reimbursed $11 per patient, but “there is no way that we can keep the infrastructure or the employees ... throughout the state for $11 a patient,” he said.
Since October, the clinic expanded its workforce from about 250 employees to more than 1,200 for its COVID-19
testing sites over several months.
Embry, who has served the Valley since 2014, said his organization has grown rapidly so that they can meet the need for COVID-19 testing across the state.
“Businesses don’t operate this way,” Embry said. “We’ve done all of this with the belief that our leaders would support this, that it’s a pandemic, and people are out there suffering and in some cases, dying. We don’t have time to wait around for the bureaucracy.”
In July, the state announced partnerships with two large COVID-19 testing providers, Sonora Quest Laboratories and Arizona State University, to expand testing across Arizona.
Through the partnership, AZDHS and the state provided Sonora Quest with $1 million to purchase new processing equipment. The department also committed up to $12.7 million through its partnership with ASU for the expansion of testing sites in Arizona.
The state has about 600 COVID-19 testing sites across Arizona, according to AZDHS.
Some organizations like NextCare and CVS require patients to meet certain criteria to qualify for testing; Embry does not. While Costco offers at-home tests for over $100, Embry’s tests are free.
Embry Women’s Health offers nasal swab and saliva testing and has testing sites that are open 24 hours a day.
The clinic also administered its first 300 vaccines in Mohave County Jan. 16, Embry said. Embry is listed under Mohave County’s vaccination provider list for Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City for Phases 1A and 1B, according to the county’s website.
The clinic, among other providers, has additional vaccine appointments available Saturday and Sunday in Mohave County.
Embry says it has not received state funds despite contract
Arizona Department of Health Services has one active contract with Embry Women’s Health for COVID-19 specimen collection and testing that’s funded through “COVID-19 stimulus packages passed by Congress,” according to AZDHS.
“COVID-19 testing is reimbursed by health insurance providers in most instances, and we have been in discussions with Embry to ensure that testing remains widely available to Arizonans,” a department spokesperson said in an email.
But the contract, which was awarded to seven organizations in September, is for services only when requested by AZDHS. To date, the department has not requested services or agreed to pay Embry Women’s Health for COVID-19 testing, a spokesperson said.
Embry and other partners received funding from the state for items like staffing and equipment for testing blitzes in May and June. But despite numerous requests to use its active contract, Embry said his clinic has not received additional funding or requests from AZDHS for their services.
“If basically the state is saying that ‘we’re not going to support any of this infrastructure that you built’ ... then we are absolutely going to consolidate our sites,” Embry said.
AZDHS said it continues to evaluate if and how they can work with the clinic to “make sure testing remains widely available in Arizona.” The department is also continuing to review financial documents submitted by Embry Women’s Health, a spokesperson said.
The department said they are also working to provide staffing support for “continued testing operations over the next several months” for Embry Women’s Health.
Embry said he has not received additional staffing support from the state yet.
Clinic received money for testing events, but not for daily test sites
Through another contract with the City of Phoenix, Embry Women’s Health received $46,000 from the city’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds for two days of drive-thru COVID-19 testing in August.
But the contract does not reimburse funding for all COVID-19 testing, only testing events conducted in partnership with the city, according to the agreement and a city spokesperson. Embry said city funds didn’t go past these two testing events.
According to the city, Embry Women’s Health has not requested additional CARES Act funds for their testing sites. Embry said it’s possible his organization hasn’t been specific enough in their requests.
The clinic also receives funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration to reimburse costs for un
insured patients for testing, but Embry said these funds don’t cover what the clinic needs to operate sites across the state.
“It basically just covers the cost of supplies,” Embry said. “We also have to remember that we had to build all of this infrastructure, right? Like to be able to go to these counties, you know, we had to purchase cars, we have to pay for fuel, we have to pay for the employees to drive back and forth.”
Embry said he’s not asking for a blank check, but is in most need of funding for infrastructure items such as cones, generators or tents for their testing sites.
“We have asked for support for infrastructure costs through multiple requests over the past eight months and thus far we have not received any support for any type of supplier equipment from the state of Arizona,” Embry said.
However, some cities have been supportive and worked with the clinic to administer COVID-19 testing by supplying these items, Embry said.
Additional CARES Act funding allocated to existing partners
In December, the Phoenix city council approved the extension of contracts with three existing medical partners to continue mobile testing and drive-thru and walk-up testing through June 2021 with CARES Act funds, a spokesperson said.
“They have already demonstrated successful community engagement and efficient delivery of COVID-19 tests to the Phoenix community,” a spokesperson said in an email.
The mobile van has administered more than 70,000 antigen and antibodies tests, while the drive-thru and walkup events have administered more than 13,000 tests, the city said.
City documents said funding was increased by $3.5 million for Vincere Physicians Group, Family Tree Healthcare and Equality Health Foundation, Sonora Quest Laboratories, and Equality Care Center.
Embry said his organization didn’t learn how the additional CARES Act funds were allocated until after they were awarded to the existing medical partners.
“There’s no reason that CARES Act dollars that are already coming into Arizona are not going to support these sites,” Embry said of his clinic.
The city did not offer the funds to other providers since the purpose was to extend contracts, according to the city spokesperson.
Though his clinic saw some unexpected delays and issues when testing recipients reported not getting their results in the promised turnaround time, Embry said he believes the clinic has done the right thing by continuing to offer testing in Arizona.