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1 National HIV/AIDS Strategy Implementation Recommendations [1] (2012)

handle is hein.prescomm/nlhasirn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: NATIONAL HIV/AIDS STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION RECOMMENDATIONS Submitted to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services By the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS February 28, 2012 Since the creation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS), progress has been made towards meeting the Strategy's access to care, health equity, and prevention goals and objectives. To make continued progress, and to ensure we reach the President's 2015 benchmarks, we respectfully offer the following 2012 priorities for review and adoption by the Secretary. Fully Implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA) The Administration must continue to work to fully implement the ACA. More specifically, we respectfully urge the Secretary to set policies that ensure uninterrupted and comprehensive care for people living with HIV. Implementation must include: incorporation of HIV primary care and specialty providers into Medicaid and Qualified Health Plan networks; identification of HIV service providers, including peers, as navigators for outreach, enrollment and retention efforts; and enhanced coordination between Medicaid and Exchanges that promote continuity of care. In addition, it is imperative that protections be included in regulations implementing the Essential Health Benefits (EHB) package to ensure that even within a benchmark approach there are adequate guarantees to access to comprehensive care for people living with HIV and other vulnerable populations. Finally, the ACA's investments in public health, prevention and wellness must include significant new investments in HIV prevention, the integration of sexual and reproductive health with HIV, as well as the training of new HIV primary care and specialty providers. To maximize the opportunities created by the ACA's investments in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), the HRSA's Bureau of Primary Health Care must ensure that FQHCs are providing high quality and comprehensive care and treatment for people living with HIV. The PACHA requests the opportunity to discuss these policy recommendations with HHS leadership to further inform and explore ways in which ACA can be implemented to meet the health care needs of people living with HIV. Provide Ongoing and Sufficient Funding of the Ryan White Program The Administration must continue to work diligently to ensure sufficient levels of funding for the Ryan White Program. It is premature to discuss either health care reform-related cost-offsets or the destabilization of Ryan White Program-supported HIV care, treatment, and disease management services in the absence of demonstrated and successful integration of HIV care, treatment and service models into newly created health care delivery systems. In addition, even with the full implementation of the ACA, the Ryan White Program will clearly be needed to fill gaps in care, treatment and essential support services for people living with HIV, as well as to close gaps in affordability. The PACHA loks forward to working with HHS and HRSA to evaluate ongoing ACA integration of HIV care, treatment and service models and to assess the impact of this integration on the Ryan White Program. Maximize Accountability and Effectiveness by Overhauling HIV-related Performance Metrics HHS, ONAP, and other partners (in conjunction with PACHA) must work to finalize a streamlined, practical and prioritized set of HIV measures and reporting requirements. Identifying a smaller number of critical metrics to be collected across agencies will help the nation focus on central outcomes and impacts, set the stage for cross-agency and intra-agency reallocation of resources to achieve optimal HIV care and prevention impact, and allow for identification of specific ways in which HIV programs can be strategically coordinated with sexually transmitted infections services, hepatitis programs, and substance abuse treatment interventions. Follow Through on PACHA Resolution on Young Black Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) PACHA developed a resolution with a set of recommendations for addressing the significant health disparities that exist for men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly black MSM (BMSM) and even more specifically young black MSM (YBMSM). The PACHA reaffirms the set of recommendations outlined in the resolution and again requests that the Secretary of HHS convene a high-level summit (including government and non- government stakeholders) on the HIV epidemic and its impact on YBMSM and create a department-wide task force charged with developing a comprehensive plan to address all aspects of the epidemic among YBMSM.