Access to stable affordable housing is a critical component of treatment and care for people living with HIV (PLWH), as well as a successful method of preventing new infections. Federally-funded housing programs provide housing subsidies and supportive services; however, available funding does not meet the housing needs of most low-income PLWH in California, 12% of whom are homeless or unstably housed. This brief discusses how California’s affordable housing crisis affects health outcomes for PLWH and offers a set of policy recommendations to increase collaboration across the housing and health care sectors in order to combat the housing crisis and move ... [Read More];
On April 6, 2017, the California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Centers convened a statewide group of stakeholders to discuss best practices for HIV prevention and care within transgender communities in California. Presentations by leading experts from academic medical centers and community-based organizations focused on utilizing an intersectionality perspective to identify best practices for serving transgender populations throughout the state.
The California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Centers are pleased to post this update on Social Security disability benefits, including the revised medical listings for HIV-related disabilities as well as the agency’s intent to now conduct Continuing Disability Reviews on HIV claims. The update is based on information gathered from Social Security Administration personnel; and other key informants including disability advocates and attorneys. A link to the Duke University Law School Health Justice Clinic is provided for those interested in more detailed information on these changes. If you would like a copy of the fact sheet that you can customize for your own ... [Read More];
There are over 126,000 people living and diagnosed with HIV (PLWH) in California and approximately 5,000 new infections each year. Access to quality, affordable health care is critical to improving the health of PLWH and preventing new infections. Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program, provided health coverage to 45,033 PLWH in 2014. The Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would make significant cuts to Medicaid and fundamentally alter how the program is structured and financed. These changes would limit Medi-Cal's ability to care for PLWH and have a detrimental impact on California's efforts to end the HIV epidemic.
A bill recently introduced in the California legislature (AB1534) seeks to better integrate HIV treatment with primary care by requiring state-regulated health insurance plans to permit HIV specialists to be primary care providers if the HIV specialist requests primary care provider status and meets the health plan’s eligibility criteria for all specialists seeking primary care provider status. Our results confirm that patients treated by providers we deemed to be HIV specialists are more likely to receive guideline-consistent HIV care and are equally if not more likely to receive primary preventive services as compared to patients treated by non-specialists. Even among ... [Read More];
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