RI Regional Partner developed HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), and STD screening protocols at PCHC. As part of a PT project quality improvement (QI) initiative, PCHC implemented electronic health records (EHR) reminders for HIV and HCV screening among at risk populations in June 2017. Although the EHR reminders resulted in little impact on HIV screening rates, HCV screening among patients born between 1945-1965 increased 8-fold in the six months following the EHR intervention. No EHR reminder was installed for STD screening despite increases in syphilis screening and extragenital STD testing.
New England AETC PT Clinic: Community Health Services (CHS), Hartford, CT
HIV testing: HIV testing rates in the adult medicine clinic increased from 39% in November 2016 to 50% in November 2017. At the end of June 2018, 65-70% of patients seen in the adult medicine clinic within the last year had been tested for HIV. This met the CHS PTP goal of testing at least 65% of patients. Feedback from CHS about their participation in PTP: “[PTP] held them accountable and motivated to improve testing rates.” Additional PTP successes included increasing the capacity of providers who are comfortable with prescribing PrEP. CHS is now partnering with other organizations to provide PrEP counseling and treatment.
New England AETC PT clinic: Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC), Brockton, MA
HIV Testing: The city of Brockton ranks 2nd in MA for HIV incidence (29.8 annual HIV diagnoses per 100,000 compared to 10.7 in the state). The high rate solidified the need for additional PTP activities focused on HIV testing. BNHC and MA RP launched a promotional campaign on local buses to increase HIV testing. HIV testing at BNHC increased from 17% of the clinic population tested in 2016 to 53% tested in 2017.
New England AETC Massachusetts Regional Partner: Community Research Initiative (CRI), Charlestown, MA
The Clinical Director/PT Lead regularly attended Active Retention in Care for Health (ARCH) team meetings to provide clinical consultation and technical assistance. BNHC
continued to be successful linking 100% of newly diagnosed clients to care within 30 days. The number of clients who did not have a medical visit in the last 6 months decreased from 29% in 2016 to 11% in 2017 in large part due to the work of the ARCH team and the support of the NEAETC PTP team.