Supporting Universal HIV Testing in Community Health Centers--A Bold Initiative From Med-IQ and the Alliance of Chicago
BALTIMORE, Sept. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "Screening is the entry point to care, and we need all providers to think about offering a one-time HIV test for all adolescents and adults regardless of risk. Without broader screening, programs to support timely linkage to and sustained engagement with HIV medical care will be less able to have a positive effect on the national HIV epidemic."
--- Allison Gardner, PhD, Vice President of Educational Strategy and Content at Med-IQ.
The Med-IQ Quality Improvement (QI) Institute is pleased to announce that an abstract detailing its initiative, A Quality Improvement Project to Increase Universal HIV Testing and Linkage to Care in Community Health Centers, has been selected for an oral presentation at the American Public Health Association's 2016 Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.
Of the 1.2 million individuals living with HIV in the United States (US), approximately 12% are unaware of their serostatus, and one-third are not linked to medical care following diagnosis. Improvements in these areas are core elements of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, as 92% of new HIV cases result from individuals who are either undiagnosed or not engaged in medical care.
This QI initiative is being conducted in collaboration with the Alliance of Chicago Health Services, L3C, and is funded by an educational grant from Gilead Sciences, Inc. By evaluating current knowledge and practice, and providing targeted education and continual data feedback, this project strives to support the implementation of universal HIV testing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Preventive Services Task Force at 6 community health centers in the Alliance of Chicago Electronic Health Records System (EHRS) user network.
The partnership with the Alliance of Chicago strengthens the impact of this QI initiative by enabling access to patient record data from busy, urban community health centers, a key setting for universal HIV testing. Following the completion of this project, the Alliance of Chicago plans to make monthly reports detailing centers' HIV testing and linkage-to-care rates available across the entire EHRS user network to support ongoing improvement efforts.
About Med-IQ
Med-IQ is America's most respected provider of continuing medical education (CME). The Med-IQ Quality Improvement (QI) Institute supports the ongoing transformation of the healthcare system from a volume- to value-focused model, aiming to provide personalized, patient-centered, evidence-based, and efficient care. The QI Institute has won 6 awards, given 15 presentations at national conferences, been published 18 times in peer-reviewed journals, and worked with more than 50 healthcare systems. To date, more than 71,000 patient records have been reviewed as part of Med-IQ QI initiatives.
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SOURCE Med-IQ
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