UMC issued the following press release authored by Ruth Cummins.
Patients in the Jackson metro area need more than medical services to
keep their HIV-positive status in check and their health the best it can
be.
They
need access to a clinic for things like the flu or an earache. They
need counseling to help them remain free from the drug and alcohol
addictions that often befall those who live with HIV, an infectious
disease that, left untreated, is life threatening.
The
2,000-plus people living with HIV treated by the University of
Mississippi Medical Center’s infectious diseases team need a long-term
support system that makes getting health care less of a struggle. That’s
especially true for the HIV-positive population, a group that might not
have money for food or medicine, don’t have reliable transportation,
lack child care, or are unemployed or financially insecure.
The
Medical Center is getting a boost to help improve its delivery of HIV
services while addressing everyday challenges that can keep those living
with HIV from seeing a provider. UMMC is one of three program grantees
supported through HIV Care Connect,
a $7 million, five-year initiative established by the Merck Foundation
to help reduce disparities in access to care and improve health outcomes
for persons with HIV living in vulnerable and underserved Southeastern
U.S. communities.
“In
this day and age, a large number of people with HIV know that they are
infected and know where they can get care, but they’re not getting it,”
said Dr. Leandro Mena, professor and chair of the Department of
Population Health Science in the John D. Bower School of Population Health.
“UMMC
shares a significant responsibility to make sure that individuals
living with HIV in Mississippi receive quality care,” said Mena, an
infectious diseases professor in the School of Medicine who also directs
UMMC’s Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Policy.
“Health
is determined by biological, genetic, social, economic, environmental
and place-based factors,” said Dr. Bettina Beech, founding dean of the
School of Population Health.
“The
funding provided by Merck will help Dr. Mena and the Medical Center to
address the full range of factors that impact health and health care and
improve the health of Mississippians affected by HIV.”
The Merck Foundation is providing funding to UMMC, Care Resource of Miami and Medical Advocacy and Outreach of Montgomery, Ala. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is serving as the national program office
for HIV Care Connect, supporting efforts of the grantees and providing
leadership in building a public-private partnership to help reduce HIV
care disparities.
“We
need to accelerate solutions that address the growing disparities in
patients’ access to HIV care and health outcomes, and focus on
communities that are most affected,” Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding,
executive vice president and chief patient officer at Merck, said in a
news release.
“Through
HIV Care Connect, we are pleased to partner with the University of
Mississippi Medical Center and help catalyze collaboration among
organizations across the southeastern United States and improve care
coordination among people most affected by HIV.”
More
than half of those newly diagnosed with HIV live in the South,
statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.
About three quarters of them are people of color. In Mississippi, there
were 428 new HIV diagnoses in 2017, latest statistics show.
A
large percentage of Mississippi’s 10,000-plus residents living with HIV
aren’t getting regular care for their disease, let alone primary care.
HIV stigma continues to play a role, with some patients feeling shame or
fear, or discomfort in going to an urgent care clinic or a health care
facility in a small rural community.
“They may have had a bad prior experience with health care, and with that a lack of trust,” Mena said.
There is no judgment by UMMC caregivers.
In addition to the adult special care clinic for HIV-positive patients, directed by Dr. James B. Brock, the Medical Center’s Express Personal Health
provides free HIV testing and same-day referrals to a HIV primary care
provider for those testing positive. UMMC links HIV-negative patients
with comprehensive services, including same-day access to PrEP, or
pre-exposure prophylaxis. It's a pill that people at risk of becoming
HIV positive take daily to greatly reduce their chance of infection.
And HIV-positive patients coping with substance abuse diseases can enroll in the “Helping HAND”
program at the HIV clinic, receiving services ranging from referrals
for detox or inpatient rehabilitation to medication-assisted treatment
and mental health care.
The
HIV Care Connect grant will allow UMMC to create a central point in
Jackson for care coordination with other organizations, including a
centralized data system. UMMC will co-locate a new low-barrier access
clinic within Express Personal Health “so that no one will be left
behind,” Mena said. “This will allow patients that have experienced
difficulty engaging in care to receive individualized care so that they
can be virally suppressed.”
If
a patient must miss work in order to get care, the clinic could give
the patient a half-day of lost wages. “It’s a financial incentive to
mitigate the cost of being compliant,” Mena said. “We know many of our
patients are poor.”
The
clinic also could pay for transportation to appointments for those who
don’t have a ride. Food barriers will be broken down with vouchers for
groceries and referrals to food pantries. “We want to sit down with
patients and understand why they haven’t been able to get care, and find
out what it will take to get there,” Mena said.
“We
meet people where they are,” Mena said. “Eighty-five percent of our HIV
patients are virally suppressed, but another 15 percent aren’t. This
program will focus on that 15 percent, and the 40 percent in Mississippi
who are not.
“This grant allows us the opportunity to provide a model of differentiated care and to mitigate the barriers.”
5 comments:
Thought UMMC already cured HIV?
@10:58 am, I do not believe a cure exists.
@10:58
I believe that was infants and newborns born to infected mothers. The disease is still spreading like wildfire in underserved and underprivileged neighborhoods.
This is such great news. So many people need help in this fight against HIV. Having a trusted place to go means more people will seek treatment. This will save many lives. Stigma is a terrible thing and people need a place to go for their medical needs without fear of rejection.
How 'bout we cut down on high-risk activity that is known to rapidly spread the disease... sorry to be all radical...but just a thought.
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