PATHS feels impact after Danville Regional cuts ties

In July, Piedmont Access to Health Services received an unexpected letter from Danville Regional Medical Center stating that the hospital was indefinitely suspending services it had provided to PATHS since its inception.

When PATHS opened in 2001, Danville Regional, then a non-profit hospital, provided all of PATHS’ uninsured patients with lab work and unlimited X-rays, Kay Crane, chief executive officer of PATHS, said in a recent interview.

“Around 700 people are being impacted by no longer getting services from the hospital,” Crane said. “We only used the care the hospital provided for our neediest patients.”

In addition to the X-rays and lab work, the hospital also did inpatient and outpatient procedures and provided 15 CT scans and MRIs per year.

Hospital administrators say the matter is under review.

“We realized that DRMC held a number of contracts with the PATHS organization,” said Leslie Smith, director of marketing and community relation. “To offer an improved level of service to our community, we felt that we needed to review and consolidate all of our agreements.”

Crane said the way she understood it was that the hospital, which also provides services to the Free Clinic, wanted to make sure that those services weren’t being duplicated.

“We know that’s not happening,” Crane said, adding records are strictly kept and no patient could receive duplicate services.

She said Danville Regional and LifePoint executives said they would have another meeting with PATHS to re-examine the matter.

Smith said the hospital will “continue to be a vital health care resource in this community for many years to come.”

• Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.