Reducing Disparities: A Virtual Quality Improvement Collaborative Resulted in Better Health Outcomes for 4 Target Populations Disproportionately Affected by HIV.

CONTEXT: Although viral suppression rates have recently increased among people with HIV, specific populations still experience disparities in health outcomes, a priority in the national response to end the HIV epidemic. PURPOSE: The end+disparities ECHO Collaborative, a quality improvement initiative among HIV providers in the United States from June 2018 to December 2019, created virtual communities of practice to measurably increase viral suppression rates in populations disproportionately affected by HIV: men who have sex with men of color, Black/African American and Latina women, youth aged 13 to 24 years, and transgender people. METHODS: Participating Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program-funded providers prioritized their improvement efforts to focus on one target population and joined virtual affinity sessions with other providers focused on that population for guidance by subject matter experts and exchanges with peer providers. During 9 submission cycles, providers reported their viral suppression data for the preceding 12 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The principal outcome measures were changes in viral suppression rates among 4 target populations and changes in viral suppression gaps compared with the rest of HIV-infected patients served by the same agency. RESULTS: A total of 90 providers were included in the data analyses with an average of 110 775 reported patients, out of which 19 442 represented the targeted populations. The average viral suppression rates for agency-selected populations increased from 79.2% to 82.3% (a 3.9% increase), while the remaining caseload increased at a lower rate from 84.9% to 86.1% (a 1.4% increase). The viral suppression gap was reduced from 5.7% to 3.8%, a 33.5% reduction. Improvements were found across all target populations. CONCLUSIONS: The collaborative demonstrated improved health outcomes and reductions in HIV-related health disparities, moving toward ending the HIV epidemic. The model of utilizing low-cost videoconferencing technologies to create virtual communities of learning is well suited to mitigate other disease-related disparities, nationally and abroad.

Beyond tokenism in quality management policy and programming: moving from participation to meaningful involvement of people with HIV in New York State.

BACKGROUND: Consumer involvement in health-care policy and quality management (QM) programming is a key element in making health systems people-centered. Involvement of health-care consumers in these areas, however, remains underdeveloped and under-prioritized. When consumer involvement is actively realized, few mechanisms for assessing its impact have been developed. The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) embraces consumer involvement of people with HIV in QM as a guiding principle, informed by early HIV/AIDS advocacy and a framework of people-centered quality care. METHOD: HIV consumer involvement is implemented statewide and informs all quality of care programming as a standard for QM in health-care organizations, implemented through four key several initiatives: (i) a statewide HIV Consumer Quality Advisory Committee; (ii) leadership and QM trainings for consumers; (iii) specific tools and activities to engage consumers in QM activities at state, regional and health-care facility levels and (iv) formal organizational assessments of consumer involvement in health-care facility QM programs. RESULTS: We review the literature on this topic and place the methods used by the NYSDOH within a theoretical framework for consumer involvement. CONCLUSION: We present a model that offers a paradigm for practical implementation of routine consumer involvement in QM programs that can be replicated in other health-care settings, both disease-specific and general, reflecting the priority of active participation of consumers in QM activities at all levels of the health system.

Factors Influencing the Successful Implementation of HIV Linkage and Retention Interventions in Healthcare Agencies Across New York State.

As part of the System Linkages and Access to Care Initiative, 12 HIV service delivery organizations in New York implemented one of the following three interventions to improve linkage to and retention in HIV care at their site: Peer Support, Appointment Procedures, and Anti-Retroviral Treatment and Access to Services. Aggregate process measure data describing intervention delivery, in conjunction with qualitative findings to help explain barriers and facilitators to achieving full implementation were examined. Process data from the interventions showed shortcomings in the percentage of eligible patients who went on to be enrolled, and the number of enrollees who ultimately received the components of the interventions. Factors identified in qualitative interviews that facilitated implementation and intervention delivery included: concerted buy-in and coordination of staff, building upon existing infrastructure including ensuring sufficient staff capacity, and allowing adaptability of certain parts of the intervention to better fit patient needs and clinical settings.

An End-User Participatory Approach to Collaboratively Refine HIV Care Data, The New York State Experience.

Existing data dissemination structures primarily rely on top-down approaches. Unless designed with the end user in mind, this may impair data-driven clinical improvements to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention and care. In this study, we implemented a data visualization activity to create region-specific data presentations collaboratively with HIV providers, consumers of HIV care, and New York State (NYS) Department of Health AIDS Institute staff for use in local HIV care decision-making. Data from the NYS HIV Surveillance Registry (2009-2013) and HIV care facilities (2010-2015) participating in a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Systems Linkages and Access to Care project were used. Each data package incorporated visuals for: linkage to HIV care, retention in care and HIV viral suppression. End-users were vocal about their data needs and their capacity to interpret public health data. This experience suggests that data dissemination strategies should incorporate input from the end user to improve comprehension and optimize HIV care.

Implementation of HIV treatment as prevention strategy in 17 Canadian sites: immediate and sustained outcomes from a 35-month Quality Improvement Collaborative.

BACKGROUND: Rapid scale-up of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) is required to meet global targets to eliminate new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. Yet, gaps persist in all nations striving for these targets. In the intervention setting of British Columbia (BC), Canada, where ART is publicly funded, 73% of HIV-diagnosed were on ART in 2011, and only 49% were achieving viral suppression. METHODS: An observational case descriptive study of HIV care sites in BC recruited to participate in a 35-month Breakthrough Series Quality Improvement Collaborative and sustainability network. Sites collected four quality indicators, qualitative change descriptions and implemented the chronic care model (CCM) and HIV care and treatment guidelines. Two reviewers assigned monthly implementation scores to evaluate site progress (January 2011-2012). All quality indicators were pooled and analysed using probability-based run chart rules. RESULTS: Seventeen teams with a pooled median population of 2296 HIV patients joined the initiative. Comprehensive CCM implementation and evidence of improvement was achieved by 29% of sites (implementation score of 4.0 or higher on 5.0 scale). Evidence of sustained improvement was observed for patient engagement (88.8-90.4%), ART uptake among patients unequivocally in need (92.9-94.8%), and ART uptake (≥6 months) and achieving viral suppression (57.3-78.4%) (all p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows evidence of sustained improvements in HIV care processes and treatment outcomes for an estimated population of 2296 HIV patients in 17 BC sites. Overall success points to opportunities for other high-income countries seeking to improve HIV health outcomes.