Building comprehensive HIV/AIDS care services

The impact of integrated HIV care on patient health outcomes

BACKGROUND

Control of viral replication through combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) improves patient health outcomes. Yet many HIV-infected patients have comorbidities that pose social and clinical barriers to achieving viral suppression. Integration of subspecialty services into HIV primary care may overcome such barriers.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate effect of integrated HIV care (IHC) on suppression of HIV replication.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A retrospective cohort study of HIV patients from 5 Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities 2000 to 2006.

SUBJECTS

Patients with >3 months of follow-up, sufficient baseline HIV severity, on cART.

MEASURES

We measured and ranked Integrated Care at the facilities. These rankings were applied to patient visits to form an index of IHC utilization. We evaluated effect of IHC utilization on likelihood of achieving viral suppression while on cART, controlling for demographic and clinical factors using survival analysis.

RESULTS

: The 1018 HIV-infected patients eligible for analysis had substantial barriers to responding to cART: 93% had comorbidities with mean 3.2 comorbidities per patient (SD = 2.0); 52% achieved viral suppression in median 231 days (SD = 411.6). Patients visiting clinics that offered hepatitis, psychiatric, psychologic, and social services in addition to HIV primary care were 3.1 times more likely to achieve viral suppression than patients visiting clinics which offered only HIV primary care (hazard ratio = 3.1, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients who visited IHC clinics were more likely to achieve viral suppression while on cART. Future research should investigate which elements of Integrated Care are most associated with viral control and what role provider experience plays in this association.

Literature on integrated HIV care: a review

With a significant proportion of HIV-infected patients now presenting with co-occurring substance abuse disorders and mental disorders, interest in integrated HIV care is growing. However, no review of integrated HIV care has been conducted. Using relevant key word searches of the Medline and Psychlit databases, the authors identified about 450 publications. The few evaluations of integrated models tended to focus on measurements of engagement and retention in medical care, and their findings indicated an association between integrated HIV care and increased service utilization. No random assignment controlled studies were identified, except in the peripheral area of integrated care (without HIV primary care) for persons with co-occurring substance abuse disorders and mental disorders. The majority of reviewed articles described integrated models operating in the field and various aspects of implementation and sustainability. Overall, they supported use of a wide range of primary and ancillary services delivered by a multidisciplinary team that employs a 'biopsychosocial' approach. Despite the lack of scientific knowledge regarding the effects of integrated HIV care, those wanting to optimize treatment for patients with multiple interacting disorders can gain useful and practical knowledge from this literature.

Outreach, mental health, and case management services: can they help to retain HIV-positive and at-risk youth and young adults in care?

OBJECTIVES

To assess the impact of outreach, mental health, and case management services on retention in primary care of HIV+ and at-risk youth and young adult clients of the Boston HAPPENS program, a comprehensive adolescent HIV prevention and care network of agencies.

METHODS

Providers at 8 urban sites used standard data forms at each visit to collect background and service receipt information on at-risk clients aged 12-24 years. Data were aggregated across all visits for each client to create summary variables for the number of times each client received each type of service. The retention measure was the number of days between a client's first and last visits during the 4-year data collection period. Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to assess the association between receipt of the support services of interest and the retention measure.

RESULTS

The median retention times were 21 days for male clients (range, 0-1406, N = 512), and 26 days for female clients (range, 0-1577, N = 914). Among males, 45% were retained beyond a month, 24% beyond a year, and 10% beyond 2 years. Similar proportions of females were retained beyond a month and a year, but more females were retained beyond 2 years (15%). After adjusting for other covariates, both male and female clients had significantly longer retention times if they received > or = 2 outreach contacts, or case management at > or = 3 visits. Among males, receipt of mental health counseling at > or = 2 visits also increased retention times.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that provision of outreach, mental health, and case management services can improve retention in care of at-risk youth and young adults.

Case management of human immunodeficiency virus-infected injection drug users: a case study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The provision of care and support to persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Brazil who also use drugs and/or alcohol represents special challenges because of the combined effects of addiction, poverty, stigma, and discrimination. This paper presents details on a program providing both clinic- and field-based care to HIV-infected injection drug users, highlighting the use of a specialized case management approach to address the clinical and psychosocial needs of this population. This program includes both a mobile case management team that fosters group discussions and provides individual counseling, and provision of medical consultations at 2 major drug treatment centers in Rio de Janeiro. The article also describes the experience of working with injection drug users who regularly attend an outpatient clinic serving marginalized communities through the use of mutual self-help groups and specialized support groups to address to issue of adherence to antiretroviral therapies for the treatment of HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Association between ancillary services and clinical and behavioral outcomes among HIV-infected women

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between ancillary services, including case management, and clinical and behavioral outcomes for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women. Data were obtained from databases systematically maintained by Family Advocacy, Care and Education Services (FACES) and the HIV Outpatient Program (HOP) in New Orleans. HIV-infected women receiving primary care from HOP and ancillary services from FACES between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 1998 were eligible. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE) with STATA software. The majority of women included in the study were African American (86.7%), infected heterosexually (78.8%), and had absolute CD4 counts greater than 200 (58.6%). After adjusting for age, time, entry time into HOP, pregnancy, CD4 count, substance abuse status, and social and clinical stressors, receipt of more than four combined case manager contacts or ancillary services per month was significantly associated with being prescribed a protease inhibitor, improved adherence and retention in primary care, and enrolling on a research protocol. Receiving more than one transportation service per month was significantly associated with improved adherence, improved retention, one or more emergency room visits per month, and one or more hospitalizations per month. Receiving more than one contact with case managers per month was associated with improved retention in primary care. Findings suggest that receipt of case management and ancillary services is associated with improvements in multiple outcomes for HIV-infected women. A client-centered approach to providing ancillary services appears to be effective in improving behavioral and utilization characteristics in this population of low-income, high-risk women.

Key elements for implementing comprehensive health care models for persons with HIV: a stakeholder analysis

A semistructured interview was conducted with 69 stakeholders in three university-based health care projects that were funded to provide an integrated continuum of care for persons living with HIV/AIDS. Data from the key informant interviews yielded composite indicators of familiarity with the service model, the importance of the elements in the service model, and the perceived quality of services provided by these innovative HIV service demonstration projects. Ratings of service quality were related to ratings of the respondent's knowledge of the service demonstration project, the importance of the various elements in the service continuum, and several indicators of stakeholder characteristics using the data modeling method of Exhaustive CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector). The groups of stakeholders most likely to give the highest quality or success ratings for these projects are identified. The implications of these findings for developing collaborative and comprehensive service models for persons with HIV/AIDS are discussed.