Cross-Campus Collaboration to Improve HIV Care.
The Center for Advancing Health Policy and Practice (CAHPP) at the School of Public Health has received a $6 million grant to improve HIV care by increasing the integration of specially trained community health workers.
Sara Bachman, director of CAHPP, is the principal investigator on the three-year cooperative agreement with the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA).
The project will draw on the knowledge and experience of community health workers to improve access to, and retention in, healthcare for people living with HIV.
The project team includes staff from CAHPP, the SPH Activist Lab, the School of Social Work, and the Center for Implementation and Improvement Sciences at the School of Medicine. Experts from Multnomah County Health Department Community Capacitation Center and HIV Health Services Center, University of Texas School of Public Health, Kansas City Care Clinic, the Center for Social Innovation/T3, and Impact Marketing will also participate.
“The goals of this project mesh well with CAHPP’s mission to advance the health and well-being of vulnerable populations by addressing inequities in the healthcare system,” says Bachman, who is a research associate professor of health law, policy & management and interim director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health.
The team will partner with Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program providers across the country serving racial and ethnic minority populations, and particularly those who are disproportionately affected by HIV—men who have sex with men, youth, and substance users. Over the course of the project, the team will give sub-awards to up to 10 provider sites to develop and implement a community health worker model.
The project team will also provide training and technical assistance, and evaluate the effectiveness of the models implemented by Ryan White Program providers.
“The successful integration of non-traditional providers such as community health workers as part of the health system supports our philosophy of fostering partnerships with consumers and communities in all our work,” Bachman says. “The vision of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy is for every person regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socioeconomic circumstance to have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.
“This project helps to further that vision by increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable and underserved people living with HIV.”
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