Prescription Medications Assistance

AccessHealth & Welvista partner to help people access essential medications

Prescription medications are an essential part of effective health care, especially for people with chronic conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, or people who have mental health conditions.

The lifesaving medications people with health insurance may take for granted are all too often inaccessible for low-income, uninsured adults. Without the prescription medications needed to manage a chronic condition, a person’s ability to earn a living to support themselves and their family is imperiled. Plus, it poses grave risks to their health while leading to more frequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

PRESCRIPTION ASSISTANCE: ONE CLIENT'S STORY

A key part of AccessHealth’s complex case management is ensuring its clients have access to prescription medications. This is primarily accomplished through a partnership with Welvista, a Columbia, S.C.-based nonprofit that provides free medications to low-income, uninsured South Carolinians.

In 2018, Welvista filled nearly 300,000 prescriptions for 25,000 patients statewide. And since AccessHealth opened its doors in 2011, Welvista has provided prescription assistance to more than 9,000 our clients. This assistance has reduced emergency department utilization and indigent care, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for local health-care providers.

When a new client is enrolled in the AccessHealth program, one of the first things their care navigator does is simultaneously enroll them in Welvista. Usually within a day or two of enrollment — and sometimes the same day they enroll — our clients are approved for Welvista services, and prescribed medications are received in the mail in as few as five business days.

“AccessHealth and our partners have worked together to improve the health of low-income, uninsured adults and to improve community health in Spartanburg, Cherokee, & Union counties” AHS Director Staci Roberts said. “All of us have essential roles to play in this effort. Welvista in particular has made a tremendous impact here in our area. We value our relationship with Welvista and applaud their longtime commitment to helping people in need.”

To learn more about Welvista and their impact, visit their website at welvista.org.