Institute of Medicine Releases Report on Health Care System Capacity for Increased HIV Testing and Provision of Care
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), the landmark health reform legislation signed into law by President Obama in March 2010, includes several provisions to expand and better support the health care workforce. These provisions also create opportunities for addressing some of the HIV workforce challenges indentified in this report. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States (PDF) recognizes the importance of ensuring that all people living with HIV know their HIV status and are well supported in a regular system of care. The Strategy states that public and private sector entities must take the steps to improve service delivery for people living with HIV by: establishing a seamless system to immediately link people to continuous and coordinated quality care when they are diagnosed with HIV; taking deliberate steps to increase the number and diversity of available providers of clinical care and related services for people living with HIV; and, supporting people living with HIV with co-occurring health conditions and those who have challenges meeting their basic needs, such as housing.
In 2009, ONAP commissioned the IOM to convene a 15-member Committee on HIV Screening and Access to Care, which was tasked with planning and conducting a series of three workshops and activities that evaluate barriers to expanded HIV testing and treatment programs. The outcome of these efforts is the issuance of three reports that examine certain questions related to HIV testing policy and access to care. The Committee’s first report focused on the extent to which Federal and State laws and policies, private health insurance policies and practices, and other factors inhibit or promote expanded HIV testing. The second report studied how Federal and State laws and policies and private health insurance policies affect entry into clinical care and the provision of continuous and sustained care for people with HIV.
ONAP thanks the Committee for its efforts. These reports will inform our collective efforts to implement the Strategy.
To view this report and the entire report series, please visit the IOM website, www.iom.edu .
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