Studies have shown disparities in access to HIV treatment linked to race/ethnicity and other client characteristics (poverty, language skills, and cultural factors). Many people living with HIV remain unaware of their serostatus, receive no treatment or substandard HIV care, and are not benefiting from the new highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). However, few studies focus on Asian and Pacific Islanders' (APIs) use of HIV services. The Ryan White CARE Act is designed to provide HIV clinical and support services to people who lack health insurance and access to primary care. Three (Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Francisco) of the seven CARE Act Client Demonstration Projects contain sufficient API clients (652 of 28 204) to make meaningful comparisons of service use patterns with other racial/ethnic groups. At the study sites in 1997, APIs were most likely of all racial/ethnic groups (32.6%) to seek primary care in hospital outpatient clinics (rather than publicly-funded health clinics, emergency rooms, private offices, or private community-based organizations). They were most likely to use CARE Act-funded advocacy (23.8%), and emergency financial assistance services (3.3%). APIs were least likely to use substance abuse treatment (1.2%), housing assistance (3.9%), case management (55.4%), HIV risk reduction education (6.0%), food bank/home-delivered meals (19.0%), or professional home services (1.2%). The paper shows that these patterns may reflect APIs' insurance status, risk behaviors, gender, age, need for services, and the linguistic and cultural competence of the service delivery system.
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify distinctive clinical and support service patterns of Asian and Pacific Islanders clinical in three CARE Act demonstration sites; 2. Identify possible underlying reasons for API service use patterns and suggest policy implications; 3. Describe the advantages and limitations of a client-level data system for evaluating RWCA services
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Health Service
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Ryan White CARE Act Grantees in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Francisco
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.