Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Use of an Outreach Coordinator to Reengage and Retain Patients at Risk of Falling Out of HIV Care, Does the Amount of Time Matter?

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
AIDS and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Retention in care remains a major problem for people living with HIV and it is well known that retention in high quality HIV care improves clinical outcomes. This project used an outreach coordinator to perform phone and letter interventions to improve retention in patients at risk of falling out of care. Sixty-one (5%) patients were at risk in 2015 and received an intervention by the outreach coordinator. Fifty (82%) had a visit and 22 (36%) met the HRSA definition of retention. The mean time per patient was 59 min; therefore, it took 2.7 h to achieve each retained patient or 1.2 h for each patient with a visit. By calculation, minutes over 75 appeared to be the point of diminishing returns. Cost analysis resulted in a cost of less than $100 per patient.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Cohen MS, Chen YQ, McCauley M, et al. Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. N Engl J Med. 2011;365(6):493–505.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Mugavero MJ, Lin HY, Willig JH, et al. Missed visits and mortality among patients establishing initial outpatient HIV treatment. Clin Inf Dis. 2009;48(2):248–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Giordano TP, White AC Jr, Saija P, et al. Factors associated with the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy in patients newly entering care in an urban clinic. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2003;32(4):399–405.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Gardner EM, McLees MP, Steiner JF, Del Rio C, Burman WJ. The spectrum of engagement in HIV care and its relevance to test-and treat strategies for prevention of HIV infection. Clin Inf Dis. 2011;52(6):793–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ulett KB, Willig JH, Lin H, et al. The therapeutic implications of timely linkage and early retention in HIV care. AIDS Patient Care STDs. 2009;23(1):41–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Skarbinski J, Rosenberg E, Paz-Bailey G, et al. Human immunodeficiency virus transmission at each step of the care continuum in the united states. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(4):588–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. International Advisory Panel on HIV Care Continuum Optimization. IAPAC guidelines for optimizing the HIV care continuum for adults and adolescents. J Int Assoc Provid AIDS Care. 2015;14(Suppl 1):S3–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gardner LI, Giordano TP, Marks G, et al. Enhanced personal contact with HIV patients improves retention in primary care: a randomized trial in 6 US HIV clinics. Clin Inf Dis. 2014;59(5):725–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Shrestha RK, Gardner L, Marks G, et al. Estimating the cost of increasing retention in care for HIV-infected patients: results of the CDC/HRSA retention in care trial. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2015;68(3):345–50.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Bradford JB, Coleman S, Cunningham W. HIV system navigation: an emerging model to improve HIV care access. AIDS Patient Care STDs. 2007;21(Suppl 1):S49–58.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Bean MC, Scott L, Kilby JM, Richey LE. Use of an Outreach Coordinator to Reengage and Retain Patients with HIV in Care. AIDS Patient Care STDs. 2017; in press.

  12. Kim JJ, Maulsby C, Zulliger R, The Jain K, Team Positive Change Intervention, Charles V, et al. Cost and threshold analysis of positive charge, a multi-site linkage to HIV care program in the United States. AIDS Behav. 2015;19(10):1735–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

A Ryan White HRSA clinical care grant supported the salary of the outreach coordinator. We thank the leadership, staff, providers, and patients at the Ryan White HIV Clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina for making this project possible.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

    Madelyne C. Bean, Linda Scott & Lauren E. Richey

Authors
  1. Madelyne C. Bean
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Linda Scott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lauren E. Richey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lauren E. Richey.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Madelyne Bean declares that she has no conflict of interest. Linda Scott declares that she has no conflict of interest. Lauren Richey declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study reported outcomes of an existing quality improvement project, IRB approval was not required.

Informed Consent

Not required as this was an observational quality improvement study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bean, M.C., Scott, L. & Richey, L.E. Use of an Outreach Coordinator to Reengage and Retain Patients at Risk of Falling Out of HIV Care, Does the Amount of Time Matter?. AIDS Behav 22, 321–324 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1784-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1784-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation