New Center to Support U.S. HIV Workforce Offers Webinars and More

The Fenway Institute, AIDS United and the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin launched a new training and technical assistance resource to support the HIV workforce.

Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Center for Innovation in HIV Care (NCIHC) is providing free training and technical assistance to Ryan White-funded AIDS service organizations (ASOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) to help them navigate the changing health care landscape.

The NCIHC website explains:

Health care reform [under the Patent Protection and Affordable Care Act] and recent research developments, such as the preventive effects of HIV treatment, have changed the context in which ASOs and CBOs provide HIV prevention and care services.

Many ASOs and CBOs have expertise in serving marginalized populations, which mainstream health care providers may not have.

Increasing the ability of people living with HIV (PLHIV) to access health care is key to improving the health of PLHIV and increasing viral suppression rates.

Accordingly, the center promises to help organizations develop strategies to improve organizational sustainability and effectiveness within the new policy and funding environment, and optimize client outcomes along the continuum of HIV care.

"Organizations serving people living with HIV have to consider how to optimize health care for clients in the context of health care reform with a goal of ending the epidemic," said the center's director, Dr. Harvey Makadon. "Organizations could either provide health care services directly or work in collaboration with health care organizations."

The NCIHC is hosting a series of live and on-demand webinars over the coming months.Their first webinar, for which TheBodyPRO.com has provided a summary, was entitled The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program: What is its Role Now and Where is it Headed?

TheBodyPRO.com will continue to provide brief recaps of each webinar. These will include:

• Sector Transformation and Organizational Sustainability
  Nov. 13, 2014, 1 p.m. ET
  Vignetta Charles, Ph.D.
  Senior Vice President, AIDS United
• The State of AIDS Service Organizations
  Dec. 3, 2014, 3 p.m. ET
  Nickie Bazell, M.P.H.
  Capacity Building Director, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
  Jacob Smith Yang
  Senior Capacity Building Director, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
• Best Practices for Addressing the Continuum of Care
  Dec. 10, 2014, 1 p.m. ET
  Edward Gardner, M.D.
  Physician, Denver Public Health; Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver

Learning tools and issue briefs will also be developed.

In addition, the center will provide individualized technical assistance to Ryan White-funded ASOs and CBOs with a focus on strengthening organizational sustainability, and improving outcomes for people living with HIV along the continuum of care. This might, for example, include help with strategic planning, staff training or resource development.

It will also develop learning tools and issue briefs. Site visits with model programs may also be arranged.

Katherine Moriarty is a consultant and freelance writer, based in Vancouver. She has 10 years of experience in the intersecting fields of public health and community development, with a focus on bloodborne virus policy and programming.

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