New York Community Trust Receives $1.7 Million to Increase Access to HIV/AIDS Care
New York Community Trust Receives $1.7 Million to Increase Access to HIV/AIDS Care
The New York Community Trust has announced that its New York City AIDS Fund was awarded a three-year, $1.7 million grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb to support primary medical care for the 1,650 New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS who are not in treatment and to help HIV primary care providers retain patients.
The grant will support ACCESS NY, a partnership of the NYC AIDS Fund, Amida Care, and the Primary Care Development Corporation that will provide management assistance to Amida Care and local HIV service groups offering primary medical care and essential services such as housing help, meals, legal support, psychotherapy, and substance abuse treatment.
The partnership unites Amida Care's experience in recruiting, enrolling, and maintaining new HIV-positive patients and its extensive HIV primary care provider network with PCDC's experience in redesigning systems of care to focus on quality, continuity, and patient access. PCDC's efforts have resulted in an average 70 percent decrease in missed appointments, significantly reduced appointment wait times, and improved patient and staff satisfaction.
New York is one of five regions in the country that received grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb to improve access to HIV care.
"Properly managed, people living with HIV/AIDS can now live healthy, productive lives," said Len McNally, program director for health at NYCT and chairman of the NYC AIDS Fund. "But lack of outreach, follow up, and care coordination means many vulnerable New Yorkers are not getting the treatment they need, and the results are often fatal."
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