Outcomes and costs of publicly funded patient navigation interventions to enhance HIV care continuum outcomes in the United States: A before-and-after study.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, patients with HIV face significant barriers to linkage to and retention in care which impede the necessary steps toward achieving the desired clinical outcome of viral suppression. Individual-level interventions, such as patient navigation, are evidence based, effective strategies for improving care engagement. In addition, use of surveillance and clinical data to identify patients who are not fully engaged in care may improve the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these programs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We employed a pre-post design to estimate the outcomes and costs, from the program perspective, of 5 state-level demonstration programs funded under the Health Resources and Services Administration's Special Projects of National Significance Program (HRSA/SPNS) Systems Linkages Initiative that employed existing surveillance and/or clinical data to identify individuals who had never entered HIV care, had fallen out of care, or were at risk of falling out of care and navigation strategies to engage patients in HIV care. Outcomes and costs were measured relative to standard of care during the first year of implementation of the interventions (2013 to 2014). We followed patients to estimate the number and proportion of additional patients linked, reengaged, retained, and virally suppressed by 12 months after enrollment in the interventions. We employed inverse probability weighting to adjust for differences in patient characteristics across programs, missing data, and loss to follow-up. We estimated the additional costs expended during the first year of each intervention and the cost per outcome of each intervention as the additional cost per HIV additional care continuum target achieved (cost per patient linked, reengaged, retained, and virally suppressed) 12 months after enrollment in each intervention. In this study, 3,443 patients were enrolled in Louisiana (LA), Massachusetts (MA), North Carolina (NC), Virginia (VA), and Wisconsin (WI) (147, 151, 2,491, 321, and 333, respectively). Patients were a mean of 40 years old, 75% male, and African American (69%) or Caucasian (22%). At baseline, 24% were newly diagnosed, 2% had never been in HIV care, 45% had fallen out of care, and 29% were at risk of falling out of care. All 5 interventions were associated with increases in the number and proportion of patients with viral suppression [percent increase: LA = 90.9%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 88.4 to 93.4; MA = 78.1%, 95% CI = 72.4 to 83.8; NC = 47.5%, 95% CI = 45.2 to 49.8; VA = 54.6, 95% CI = 49.4 to 59.9; WI = 58.4, 95% CI = 53.4 to 63.4]. Overall, interventions cost an additional $4,415 (range = $3,746 to $5,619), $2,009 (range = $1,516 to $2,274), $920 (range = $627 to $941), $2,212 (range = $1,789 to $2,683), and $3,700 ($2,734 to $4,101), respectively per additional patient virally suppressed. The results of this study are limited in that we did not have contemporaneous controls for each intervention; thus, we are only able to assess patients against themselves at baseline and not against standard of care during the same time period. CONCLUSIONS: Patient navigation programs were associated with improvements in engagement of patients in HIV care and viral suppression. Cost per outcome was minimized in states that utilized surveillance data to identify individuals who were out of care and/or those that were able to identify a larger number of patients in need of improvement at baseline. These results have the potential to inform the targeting and design of future navigation-type interventions.

Health information technology interventions and engagement in HIV care and achievement of viral suppression in publicly funded settings in the US: A cost-effectiveness analysis.

BACKGROUND: The US National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) emphasizes the use of technology to facilitate coordination of comprehensive care for people with HIV. We examined cost-effectiveness from the health system perspective of 6 health information technology (HIT) interventions implemented during 2008 to 2012 in a Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program demonstration project. METHODS/FINDINGS: HIT interventions were implemented at 6 sites: Bronx, New York; Durham, North Carolina; Long Beach, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York, New York (2 sites); and Paterson, New Jersey. These interventions included: (1) use of HIV surveillance data to identify out-of-care individuals; (2) extension of access to electronic health records (EHRs) to support service providers; (3) use of electronic laboratory ordering and prescribing; and (4) development of a patient portal. We employed standard microcosting techniques to estimate costs (in 2018 US dollars) associated with intervention implementation. Data from a sample of electronic patient records from each demonstration site were analyzed to compare prescription of antiretroviral therapy (ART), CD4 cell counts, and suppression of viral load, before and after implementation of interventions. Markov models were used to estimate additional healthcare costs and quality-adjusted life-years saved as a result of each intervention. Overall, demonstration site interventions cost $3,913,313 (range = $287,682 to $998,201) among 3,110 individuals (range = 258 to 1,181) over 3 years. Changes in the proportion of patients prescribed ART ranged from a decrease from 87.0% to 72.7% at Site 4 to an increase from 74.6% to 94.2% at Site 6; changes in the proportion of patients with 0 to 200 CD4 cells/mm3 ranged from a decrease from 20.2% to 11.0% in Site 6 to an increase from 16.7% to 30.2% in Site 2; and changes in the proportion of patients with undetectable viral load ranged from a decrease from 84.6% to 46.0% in Site 1 to an increase from 67.0% to 69.9% in Site 5. Four of the 6 interventions-including use of HIV surveillance data to identify out-of-care individuals, use of electronic laboratory ordering and prescribing, and development of a patient portal-were not only cost-effective but also cost saving ($6.87 to $14.91 saved per dollar invested). In contrast, the 2 interventions that extended access to EHRs to support service providers were not effective and, therefore, not cost-effective. Most interventions remained either cost-saving or not cost-effective under all sensitivity analysis scenarios. The intervention that used HIV surveillance data to identify out-of-care individuals was no longer cost-saving when the effect of HIV on an individual's health status was reduced and when the natural progression of HIV was increased. The results of this study are limited in that we did not have contemporaneous controls for each intervention; thus, we are only able to assess sites against themselves at baseline and not against standard of care during the same time period. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide additional support for the use of HIT as a tool to enhance rapid and effective treatment of HIV to achieve sustained viral suppression. HIT has the potential to increase utilization of services, improve health outcomes, and reduce subsequent transmission of HIV.

Practice transformations to optimize the delivery of HIV primary care in community healthcare settings in the United States: A program implementation study.

BACKGROUND: The United States HIV care workforce is shrinking, which could complicate service delivery to people living with HIV (PLWH). In this study, we examined the impact of practice transformations, defined as efficiencies in structures and delivery of care, on demonstration project sites within the Workforce Capacity Building Initiative, a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS). METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data were collected at 14 demonstration project sites in 7 states and the District of Columbia. Organizational assessments were completed at sites once before and 4 times after implementation. They captured 3 transformation approaches: maximizing the HIV care workforce (efforts to increase the number of existing healthcare workforce members involved in the care of PLWH), share-the-care (team-based care giving more responsibility to midlevel providers and staff), and enhancing client engagement in primary HIV care to reduce emergency and inpatient care (e.g., care coordination). We also obtained Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Services Reports (RSRs) from sites for calendar years (CYs) 2014-2016, corresponding to before, during, and after transformation. The RSR include data on client retention in HIV care, prescription of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and viral suppression. We used generalized estimating equation (GEE) models to analyze changes among sites implementing each practice transformation approach. The demonstration projects had a mean of 18.5 prescribing providers (SD = 23.5). They reported data on more than 13,500 clients per year (mean = 969/site, SD = 1,351). Demographic characteristics remained similar over time. In 2014, a majority of clients were male (71% versus 28% female and 0.2% transgender), with a mean age of 47 (interquartile range [IQR] 37-54). Racial/ethnic characteristics (48% African American, 31% Hispanic/Latino, 14% white) and HIV risk varied (31% men who have sex with men; 31% heterosexual men and women; 7% injection drug use). A substantial minority was on Medicaid (41%). Across sites, there was significant uptake in practices consistent with maximizing the HIV care workforce (18% increase, p < 0.001), share-the-care (25% increase, p < 0.001), and facilitating patient engagement in HIV primary care (13% increase, p < 0.001). There were also significant improvements over time in retention in HIV care (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.04; p < 0.001), ART prescription levels (aOR = 1.01; 95% CI 1.00-1.01; p < 0.001), and viral suppression (aOR = 1.03; 95% CI 1.02-1.04; p < 0.001). All outcomes improved at sites that implemented transformations to maximize the HIV care workforce or improve client engagement. At sites that implemented share-the-care practices, only retention in care and viral suppression outcomes improved. Study limitations included use of demonstration project sites funded by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP), which tend to have better HIV outcomes than other US clinics; varying practice transformation designs; lack of a true control condition; and a potential Hawthorne effect because site teams were aware of the evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we found that practice transformations are a potential strategy for addressing anticipated workforce challenges among those providing care to PLWH. They hold the promise of optimizing the use of personnel and ensuring the delivery of care to all in need while potentially enhancing HIV care continuum outcomes.

The Impact Of Medicaid Expansion On People Living With HIV And Seeking Behavioral Health Services.

While Medicaid eligibility expansion created health care access for millions in California, its impact on people living with HIV has been more nuanced. Newly covered people living with HIV who have behavioral health care needs now must navigate separate mental health and substance use care systems, instead of receiving them in integrated care settings as they had under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. We conducted forty-seven interviews in the period April 2015-June 2016 to examine the impact of Medicaid expansion on people living with HIV in California who had behavioral health care needs. California's historical division in its Medicaid funding streams created challenges in determining which payer should cover clients' behavioral health care. Compounding these challenges were a perceived lack of cultural competence for serving this population, insufficient infrastructure to facilitate continuity of care, and unmet need for nonmedical supportive services. The multipayer model under health reform has compromised the administrative simplicity and integrated delivery of HIV and behavioral health services previously available to uninsured patients through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.