Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Special Projects of National Significance - Minority HIV/AIDS Fund - Address: 44 Farnsworth St, Boston, MA 02210 Principal Investigator: Erin Starzyk, PhD, MPH Voice: 856-287-1011 E-Mail: erin_starzyk@jsi.com Website: www.jsi.com Funding Requested: $7,000,000.00 for four years, $1,750,000.00 per year In response to HRSA 24-108, A System-Level Syndemic Approach to Improve HIV Care and Treatment for People from Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups – Evaluation and Technical Assistance Provider (ETAP), JSI and NMAC are partnering to advance the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of system-level syndemic approaches to reduce inequities for people with HIV from racial and ethnic minority groups. The ETAP will work with the five demonstration systems, funded under HRSA-24-107, to develop interventions that link and retain people with HIV into integrated care and achieve the project goals: 1) Design and conduct a multi-system evaluation to assess the implementation and outcomes of the demonstration systems’ syndemic approach to link and retain people from racial and ethnic minority groups in comprehensive HIV care and treatment; 2) Strengthen the capacity of the demonstration systems to implement systems-level integrated care interventions using a syndemic approach; 3) Develop materials and publications related to the demonstration systems’ integrated care interventions, and disseminate best practices and lessons learned to increase uptake and replication of syndemic approach; 4) Conduct project management, including continuous quality improvement of all project activities. JSI and NMAC will collaborate with the demonstration systems to identify technical assistance (TA) needs through the TA needs assessments, site visits, and Learning Sessions, which will inform the TA plans and support implementation. We will leverage our vast expertise related to integrated HIV care systems, syndemic service delivery, health systems strengthening, and social determinants of health to respond to evolving TA needs, and will engage expert consultants with lived experience and content expertise to enhance TA. JSI and NMAC will support each demonstration system in developing their own dissemination plan. Efforts will be tailored to reach Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) recipients, subrecipients, and the broader community of HIV service providers. JSI will work with Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) to support the dissemination of materials through TargetHIV.org. JSI’s Evaluation Team will conduct a multi-system evaluation (MSE) with an emphasis on building capacity among RWHAP Part A and B jurisdictions to develop and operationalize interventions that use a system-level syndemic approach and meet the needs of racial and ethnic minority groups. JSI will engage demonstration systems in evaluation activities, and work with them to collect and submit system-level (including cost data), provider-level, and client-level data. JSI will produce data visualizations and provide TA to sites on data-informed decision-making to support implementation. The proposed MSE questions below are guided by the HRSA HAB implementation science approach and the RE-AIM framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) and seek to understand what is working and why at the system, provider, and client levels. 1) To what extent did demonstration systems increase their capacity to implement comprehensive integrated care interventions using a syndemic approach? 2) To what extent did interventions link and retain the priority population(s) in comprehensive and integrated care? 3) To what extent did the interventions improve client health outcomes in the priority population(s)? 4) What are the costs associated with implementing a comprehensive integrated care intervention using a syndemic approach? 5) What are the facilitators and barriers associated with the implementation of a comprehensive integrated care intervention using a syndemic approach?
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).