Bronx Linkage to Care (BLINC) - The Division of Substance Abuse (DoSA) of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine proposes Bronx Linkage to Integrated Care (BLINC). This program will provide integrated addiction, behavioral health, prevention, and HIV medical services for South Bronx minority populations who are at high risk for co-occurring HIV, substance use, and psychiatric disorders, using TEAMCare and peer-based services as the primary interventions. BLINC will have a robust impact on the HIV care continuum for African American and Hispanic injection drug users (IDUs) and their partners in the South Bronx, which is home to New York City's highest concentrations of minorities at risk for these conditions. At the core of BLINC is TEAMcare, an evidence-based practice that is being adapted specially for this population. TEAMcare will be an intensive program of patient support that includes weekly-to-monthly psychiatric care, HIV primary care, other medical services, social worker managed coordinated care, and peer-led patient navigation. Patients whose needs are not as severe will have access to peer navigation and psychiatric support as needed, and patients who have already achieved viral load suppression will have in BLINC a backstop source of support in the event their circumstances change. BLINC's goals are to (1) ensure that HIV -positive individuals subject to co-occurring substance use and mental illness receive wrap-around care that will (2) lead to better health outcomes across all conditions, reducing or eliminating the impact of each condition, and (3) reduce or eliminate the linkage-to-care gap in DoSA's HIV continuum of care. BLINC will help patients manage their HIV infection with ARV therapy to achieve suppressed viral loads, manage substance use disorders through medication assisted opioid treatment, and manage depression and other psychiatric disorders through treatment with the BLINC psychiatrist.
