Ryan White Title III HIV Capacity Development and Planning Grants - The FY 2023 RWHAP Part C Capacity Development Program (Project Enhancing Linkage to Care (ELC)) falls within the category of HIV Care Innovation, specifically the coordination of HIV primary care with behavioral health care for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). Special Health Resources for Texas, Inc. (SHRT) is requesting $150,000 for the one-year period of performance to review and develop policies and workflows to guide staff to best link PLWHA clients to behavioral health care. Once the new policies and workflows are developed, staff will receive training on how to best link clients to behavioral health care, document the linkage in the electronic health records (EHR), and track clients to ensure that they have been successfully linked to care. The new policies and workflows will be implemented across all SHRT clinics serving PLWHA clients. Patient data will be captured and evaluated to assess the effectiveness of the new policies and workflows, examining not only the linkage to behavioral health care but retention in care as well. This evaluation will enable SHRT to make changes as needed to improve the process and ensure that all PLWHA clients are linked to, and retained in behavioral health care. Project ELC can only be considered a success if the new policies and workflows result in greater linkages to care and retention in care for HIV-positive clients. SHRT data indicate that from 2020 through 2022, the Texarkana HSDA reported that among HIV-positive clients, 15% experienced a gap in medical visits. The Tyler HSDA, for the same time, reported that 24% of HIV-positive clients experienced a gap in medical care. Through the implementation of new policies and workflows, the goal is to reduce the percentage of HIV-positive patients experiencing a gap in medical care within the Texarkana HSDA to five percent or less (a 10% decrease). For the Tyler HSDA, the goal is to reduce the number of patients with gaps in medical to 14% or less (a 10% decrease). In addition, for newly diagnosed HIV-positive clients in both HSDAs, 100% will be referred to behavioral care. SHRT is requesting a funding preference under Qualification 2: Underserved Populations. The request falls within the category of HIV Care Innovation, with a selected activity of coordinating or integrating HIV primary care with behavioral health care. Under Project ELC, policies and workflows pertinent to screening PLWHA clients for behavioral health issues will be reviewed and staff retrained to provide effective screening and linkages to behavioral health care. Project ELC will enhance SHRT’s ability to better serve PLWHA clients, as their care will become increasingly integrated, contributing to great medical adherence and retention in care.
