Ensuring linkage to HIV medical care services for HIV positive inmates released from Maryland correctional facilities: Coordination of multiple State and City Agencies

Issue: The process of preparing inmates with HIV/AIDS to continue their HIV care post-release involves multiple agencies working in concert. Given barriers to care such as homelessness, substance addictions, and mental illness, it is important that all entities work together to ensure a continuum of care for HIV positive persons post-release from prison/jail.

Description: In Maryland, HIV positive inmates receiving HIV primary care in state prison facilities or the jail are referred to Ryan White (RW) Part A providers for post-release planning, which include core medical and supportive services for persons who do not have sufficient health care coverage or financial resources. The Maryland Infectious Disease and Environmental Health Administration and RW Grantees Office have assumed coordination roles to ensure communication and coordination between participating agencies, update continuum of care protocols, and develop tools for evaluating success and identifying areas for improvement by participating agencies.

Lessons Learned: The success of linking inmates to care post-release is reliant upon on-going communication, defining clear protocols, holding all stakeholders accountable for adhering to established protocols, and continuously improving these protocols as needed. Integrated data collection and disposition review is used to analyze outcomes and develop more efficient ways of linking clients to care.

Next Steps: Ways to clarify stakeholder's roles and improve communication between participating agencies will be ongoing. Additionally, long term data collection which tracks recidivism rates among this population can potentially lead to policy implications for establishing permanent partnerships with community health care providers and corrections staff.