Integrating Routine HIV Screening in the New York City Community Health Center Collaborative
Open Access
- 1 January 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Public Health Reports
- Vol. 131 (1_suppl), 11-20
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549161310s103
Abstract
Objective. One in seven of the 1.1 million people living in the United States infected with HIV are not aware of their HIV status. At the same time, many clinical settings have not adopted routine HIV screening, which promotes linkage to specialist medical care. We sought to improve HIV screening in a large community health center network by using a data-driven, collaborative learning approach and system-wide modifications, where counselor-based HIV screening and testing were replaced by health-care providers and medical assistants. Methods. Urban Health Plan, Inc., a network of federally qualified health centers in the boroughs of the Bronx and Queens in New York City, provided HIV screening training for its health-care providers. In January 2011, it modified its electronic medical record system to incorporate HIV test offering. This study compared the 2010 baseline year with the three-year implementation follow-up period (January 2011 through December 2013) to determine the number of eligible individuals for HIV testing, HIV tests offered and performed, HIV-positive individuals, and HIV cases linked to specialty care. Results. A total of 26,853 individuals at baseline and 100,369 individuals in the implementation period were eligible for HIV testing. HIV testing was performed on 2,079 (8%) of 26,853 eligible individuals in 2010 and 49,646 (50%) of 100,369 eligible individuals from 2011 through 2013. HIV-positive status was determined in 19 (0.9%) of 2,079 tested individuals in 2010 and 166 (0.3%) of 49,646 tested individuals from 2011 through 2013. Linkage to care was observed in all 19 eligible individuals and 127 (77%) of 166 eligible individuals who tested HIV positive in 2010 and 2011–2013, respectively. Conclusion. This study enabled routine HIV implementation testing at a community health center network, which resulted in enhanced HIV testing, an increased number of HIV-positive cases identified, and a rise in the number of patients linked to HIV specialist care.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Novel Approach to Realizing Routine HIV Screening and Enhancing Linkage to Care in the United States: Protocol of the FOCUS Program and Early ResultsJMIR Research Protocols, 2014
- HIV infection and risk, prevention, and testing behaviors among injecting drug users -- National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System, 20 U.S. cities, 2009.2014
- Routine HIV Screening in Two Health-Care Settings — New York City and New Orleans, 2011–20132014
- HIV transmission rates from persons living with HIV who are aware and unaware of their infectionAIDS, 2012
- “The Anticipation Alone could Kill You”: Past and Potential Clients' Perspectives on HIV Testing in Non-Health Care SettingsAIDS Education and Prevention, 2011
- Reasons for Not HIV Testing, Testing Intentions, and Potential Use of an Over-the-Counter Rapid HIV Test in an Internet Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men Who Have Never Tested for HIVSexually Transmitted Diseases, 2011
- Identifying barriers to HIV testing: personal and contextual factors associated with late HIV testingAIDS Care, 2011
- Prevalence and awareness of HIV infection among men who have sex with men --- 21 cities, United States, 2008.2010
- Learning and Improving in Quality Improvement Collaboratives: Which Collaborative Features Do Participants Value Most?Health Services Research, 2009
- Improving Primary Care for Patients With Chronic IllnessJama-Journal Of The American Medical Association, 2002