Wednesday, April 2, 2025
4/2/2025
Ryan White Part C Outpatient EIS Program - 886 Chestnut Ridge Road P.O. Box 6845 Morgantown, WV 26506-6845 Arif R. Sarwari, MD, MSc, MBA, Project Director Tel: 304-293-3306, Fax: 304-293-8677 e-mail: asarwari@hsc.wvu.edu HRSA 25-003 Part C Competing Continuation - Funding preference requested Epidemiologic Overview for the Service Area: We serve a 33-county region in north-central and eastern West Virginia that is a largely rural, impoverished, medically underserved area and lies completely within Appalachia. The service area covers 60% of the state counties, 52% of the state’s population, and includes Public Health Districts 5, 6, 7 and 8. The combined prevalence of HIV and AIDS in our service area increased 7% from 894 to 960 cases over the past three years. Patients receiving any care at WVUPHC increased 21% from 333 patients in 2021 to 402 patients in 2023. We estimate that potentially 384 (>40%) of the PLWHA in our service area are either not in care or are traveling extensive distances to receive care. Summary of Request for Key Services and Funding: West Virginia University (WVU) has served HIV positive patients since the beginning of the epidemic. The WVU Positive Health Clinic (WVUPHC) was established with Part C funding in 2003 and Part D funding in 2012. We propose to further build upon comprehensive HIV primary care services utilizing our one-stop shopping’ model of care and, after our experience with COVID, aggressively incorporating TeleHealth. Services include testing and counseling, primary and specialty care, chronic care disease management, laboratory monitoring, adherence counseling, medical case management, mental health and substance abuse counseling, nutritional services, financial counseling, patient education, and continuous quality improvement. Part C funding in the amount of $400,924 is requested to maintain focus on our target population of men who have sex with men (MSM) and to increase focus on people who inject drugs (PWID). Challenges: Uncertain funding for health care in our service area is one of extreme concern. Gaps include non-existent or limited transportation, lack of access to mental health services, funding for dental care, and inadequate funding for HIV care and support services. The six Infectious Disease physicians at the WVUPHC constitute the core of the HIV service delivery system in the service area. Target Population Objectives and Key Quality Improvement measures: The major objectives for the program are to increase accessibility of quality services to all persons residing in the service area who are at risk or infected with HIV by: 1) Maintaining weekly clinics for comprehensive HIV outpatient primary care dedicated to providing, documenting provision of, and measuring progress and outcomes of care to 360 active patients (with a 3% increase annually). 2) Continuing secondary HIV prevention interventions among patients with high-risk behaviors using various methods including ‘treatment as prevention.’ 3) Continuing a proactive continuous quality improvement (CQI) program focusing on a patient retention rate of over 90%, maintaining over 90% of patients on antiretrovirals with documented viral suppression in over 90% of patients. 4) Retaining enthusiasm within our Consumer Advisory Board to further guide the development of a successful clinic. 5) Optimizing medical management of our patients with incorporation of a Primary Care Physician as part of the comprehensive care team.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).