Tuesday, April 29, 2025
4/29/2025
Ryan White Title III HIV Capacity Development and Planning Grants - Portia Howard will be the Program Director for our Capacity Development Project -Advancing Integration of HIV Primary Care with Oral Health – a Key Strategy for HIV Care Innovation at Optimus Health Care. Ms. Howard is currently the HIV Program Coordinator for Optimus Health Care. The primary sites of the project will be located at 982 East Main Street and 471 Barnum Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Requests for information on this proposal should be directed to Alexandra McGoldrick, contact phone number: (203) 520-9865, Email: amcgoldrick@opthc.org. Optimus Health Care (Optimus) plans to use capacity development funds under 1) HIV Care Innovation for developing strategies, policies, and procedures to improve care coordination and integration of HIV primary care with oral health. Our proposed activity will expand access to oral healthcare for low income, uninsured, and underserved people with HIV by optimizing our use of a mobile van and other site facilities and by developing effective workflows and establishing policies and procedures to track and coordinate referrals for oral health. Based on 2022 tracking, only 30% of Optimus’ 247 RWHAP program participants received oral health care which is cited as one of the most frequently unmet needs. Our proposed methods to address the stated oral health needs of our RWHAP clients includes understanding the barriers such as financial concerns, stigma, patient fear and discomfort with dentists, and low health literacy and lack of education about the importance of oral health. Optimus will engage a team of internal expertise to help analyze our current workflow and mitigate barriers to accessing oral health so we can establish effective policies and procedures for integration of care. The team will be headed by our Dental Director and will be assisted by the HIV Lead Case Manager in coordination with the Quality & Transformation officer and Healthcare Analytics Delivery Specialist to monitor performance. Our Clinical Director for Learning & Development will also be advising on the workflow to ensure effective training for the staff. Our goal is to increase the number of RWHAP patients who access oral health from 30% to 50% at the end of the program period. The projects’ objectives include: 1) Evaluate current oral health services and provide appropriate training and support for clinical and other staff in developing the expertise to manage oral health care for PWHA; 2) Improve client flow by establishing linkages and referrals to HIV medical care and support services to ensure a continuum of care; 3) Establish the use of a mobile clinic to improve proximity to care; 4) Enhanced involvement of PLWH in service delivery; 5) Increased education on importance of oral health; 6) Institute performance measures to ensure a continuum of oral health. Optimus is requesting $150,000 to support the staffing required to advance this capacity development project for the period of September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2024.
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).