Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Retention in HIV Primary Care: A Longitudinal Multisite Analysis.

We compared retention in care outcomes between a pre-COVID-19 (Apr19-Mar20) and an early-COVID-19 (Apr20-Mar21) period to determine whether the pandemic had a significant impact on these outcomes and assessed the role of patient sociodemographics in both periods in individuals enrolled in the Data for Care Alabama project (n = 6461). Using scheduled HIV primary care provider visits, we calculated a kept-visit measure and a missed-visit measure and compared them among the pre-COVID-19 and early-COVID-19 periods. We used logistic regression models to calculated odds ratios (OR) and accompanying 95% confidence intervals (CI). Overall, individuals had lowers odds of high visit constancy [OR (95% CI): 0.85 (0.79, 0.92)] and higher odds of no-shows [OR (95% CI): 1.27 (1.19, 1.35)] during the early-COVID-19 period. Compared to white patients, Black patients were more likely to miss an appointment and transgender people versus cisgender women had lower visit constancy in the early-COVID-19 period.

Role of Visit Modality in the HIV-Related No-Shows During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multisite Retrospective Cohort Study.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid expansion of telehealth as part of healthcare delivery. This study compared HIV-related no-shows by visit type (in-person; video; telephone) during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020-September 2021) from the Data for Care Alabama project. Using all primary care provider visits, each visit's outcome was categorized as no-show or arrived. A logistic regression model using generalized estimating equations accounting for repeat measures in individuals and within sites calculated odds ratios (OR) and their accompanying 95% confidence interval (CI) for no-shows by visit modality. The multivariable models adjusted for sociodemographic factors. In-person versus telephone visits [OR (95% CI) 1.64 (1.48-1.82)] and in-person versus video visits [OR (95% CI) 1.53 (1.25-1.85)] had higher odds of being a no-show. In-person versus telephone and video no-shows were significantly higher. This may suggest success of telehealth visits as a method for HIV care delivery even beyond COVID-19.

COVID Community-Engaged Testing in Alabama: Reaching Underserved Rural Populations Through Collaboration.

Rural communities are often underserved by public health testing initiatives in Alabama. As part of the National Institutes of Health's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics‒Underserved Populations initiative, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, along with community partners, sought to address this inequity in COVID-19 testing. We describe the participatory assessment, selection, and implementation phases of this project, which administered more than 23 000 COVID-19 tests throughout the state, including nearly 4000 tests among incarcerated populations. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(10):1399-1403. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306985).