By Sandra Jones/WHRO

Hospital-based violence intervention programs across Virginia have served nearly 10,000 patients since 2019 and helped avoid an estimated $101.8 million in health care costs, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Four of those programs in Hampton Roads have served 5,290 patients since March 2020.

Fitzroy Smith, hospital violence intervention program supervisor at Sentara Norfolk General, said the programs serve public health and financial interests.

“It really demonstrates that hospital intervention programs are not just mission-driven. We’re also financially responsible. When you stabilize patients, you also stabilize hospital systems,” Smith told WHRO News.

Sentara offers its Foresight Violence Intervention Program at Norfolk General Hospital.

VHHA reports a 3% re-injury rate among patients receiving HVIP services, compared with an estimated 40% among victims who do not receive intervention services. The reduction in repeat injuries has helped avoid more than $49 million in health care costs, according to the association.

Specifics of gun violence intervention programs differ but generally connect patients with trauma-informed care and support services during and after hospitalization. Programs can also provide assistance such as safety planning, counseling, transportation, housing resources and connections to community organizations.

A gunshot injury can cost between $30,000 and $50,000 per person, Smith said. Many patients who sustain those injuries are uninsured, underinsured or covered by Medicaid, leaving hospitals to absorb significant portions of the cost.

“So the hospital has to bear the burden,” Smith said. “Now, for a homicide, it’s anywhere from $1.6 million to $3 million per individual.”

Smith said the programs can reduce those costs by preventing further violence and keeping people from becoming hospital patients in the first place.

“When you interrupt violence, that’s an added responsibility that’s taken off of the hospitals because they have to treat the individual that comes into that hospital room. Our job is to make sure they don’t come there in the first place,” he said.

January Serda is the grant coordinator for Riverside Hospital’s Hand-In-Hand Violence Intervention Program. She said savings for hospitals come from addressing patients’ immediate medical needs and the factors that contribute to violence.

Serda said the programs also help patients maintain care by connecting them with outpatient services and behavioral health support.

“None of us are saviors over here,” Serda said. “What we’re really doing is empowering that individual to tap into their own strength and power and resiliency to save themselves.”

Research also plays a role in understanding which violence prevention strategies are effective and how programs can measure their impact.

Nicholas Thomson is the associate dean for research in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Public Health and director of the university’s new Center for Gun Violence Research.

He said VCU works with community organizations involved in gun violence prevention efforts to understand their goals and develop evaluations based on the populations they serve and the types of violence they seek to prevent.

“We see ourselves as a key partner in these community organizations in the gun violence prevention initiatives,” Thomson said.

For hospital-based intervention programs, that could include collecting data on firearm injuries and other firearm-related measures. Youth violence prevention programs may examine victimization, firearm involvement and changes in violent behavior, he said.

Thomson said an important part of gun violence prevention research is identifying risk factors before someone becomes involved in violence.

“Much of our research really does need to focus on a prevention standpoint,” he said. “So, that’s identifying what risk factors lead to gun violence. And that’s really the mechanism that we’re trying to target before these youth or people engage in gun violence.”

Virginia has 12 hospital-based violence intervention programs across 10 health systems, following the addition of programs in 2026 at Ballad Health’s Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon in June and UVA Health in Charlottesville in April.

Other participating health systems include Bon Secours in Richmond, Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, INOVA in Fairfax and Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.

A spokesperson for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center said its Healing Opportunities Providing Empowerment (HOPE) program is on pause following personnel changes.