SCRANTON, Pa. — A health care provider in Lackawanna County is taking some heat for the way it's giving out the COVID-19 vaccine.
After getting the COVID-19 vaccine at the Wright Center for Community Health, one person got a bill for more than $400.
Many others have taken to social media to complain that the center is charging for an office visit when you come to receive the vaccine.
But Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, the Wright Center CEO, says that's because she does not want to put a shot in the arm of someone who has never been a patient of the center before without knowing their medical history, especially after a year where so many people have skipped their regular doctors' appointments due to COVID-19.
"With our hypervigilance, we wanted not only to protect every patient when they came in to get the vaccine, but to really appreciate their story, where they were after the long pandemic, knowing that many people did not seek primary health services for the prior nine months, or might have not had really significant and serious chronic medical issues addressed."
According to the CDC's website, providers "cannot charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination."
"We're providing a lot more service than the vaccine," Dr. Thomas-Hemak said.
The CDC also says providers cannot "require additional services in order for a person to receive" the vaccine.
"It says service, not visit. So we're in conversations with the CDC on how to optimize that language," said Dr. Thomas-Hemak.
The message from the Wright Center is that if you just want a shot in the arm and nothing else, you should not come here.
"We are not giving vaccines outside the context of an office visit. That's who we are. We don't feel comfortable giving vaccines outside the context of an office visit. We actually completely appreciate the fact that we can't force anybody to come get a shot through an office visit. But nobody can force us to behave like a pharmacy because we're a patient-centered medical home, we're a medical educator, and we're really proud of that."
We reached out to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. A spokesperson told us, "We would advocate for removing all barriers to vaccination. The Department of Health encourages residents to seek vaccination opportunities that are free of charge."
There's a sign on the entrance to the center informing people that they'll be charged for an office visit. It's also on the center's website.
But some people who got the shot early on in the distribution tell Newswatch 16 they had no idea they'd be charged until the bill arrived.
The Wright Center says it's improved its messaging since January to avoid surprise bills.
"But we've never done vaccine-only visits, for vaccines that are based on technology that we've been comfortable with for 40 years, we've never done that. That's not who we are," Dr. Thomas-Hemak said.
Dr. Thomas-Hemak shut down the suggestion that her nonprofit organization is doing this to make more money.
"Because here's what happens to any of the revenues, they get re-invested and delivered back to the public."
The Wright Center also stressed it will not turn anyone away who cannot pay. There is a sliding fee discount program for under-insured or uninsured patients.