142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

309603
Building an Active Re-linkage Program

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Camden Hallmark, MPH , Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Kellie Watkins, MS , Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Biru Yang, PhD, MPH , Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Marcia Wolverton, MPH , Bureau of Epidemiology, Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Richard Grimes, PhD , Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX
Marlene L. McNeese , Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX
Since 2008, Service Linkage Workers (SLW) have been in place in Houston/Harris County to assist persons newly diagnosed with HIV link to medical care. Although there were at least 25 SLWs in 2012, there were no dedicated staff assigned to re-link HIV-positive persons who had dropped out of care.

With private funding, the Houston Department of Health and Human Services initiated a re-linkage to care project. All referrals were given to a Service Linkage Supervisor (SLS) who attempted initial contact with the client and, if they accepted services, the client was assigned to a SLW. The SLW worked to mitigate barriers to care and re-link the client to medical and supportive services.

During the program’s pilot, phone contact was attempted for 202 clients. Of these, 82 (40.6%) were unable to be contacted. Another 59 (29.2%) self-reported they were already in care. Due to the high proportion that were not reached by phone, the program adopted locating procedures to include two phone calls to all available phone numbers, certified letters and field visits to all addresses. To reduce the resources expended to contact those already in care, we obtained access to search four surveillance and care databases for evidence of care (i.e. CD4/VL laboratory results and care visits) prior to attempting contact. Using these searches, we were able to find recent evidence of care for 44% of all referrals received.

Future research should include determination of the most effective and efficient methods for locating clients in need of re-linkage.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Describe the re-linkage to care Service Linkage Worker project in Houston/Harris County. Assess how the re-linkage project process has changed over time. Identify areas for future research related to re-linkage interventions.

Keyword(s): HIV/AIDS, Health Care Access

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have worked in the field of HIV research and prevention for the past few years through multiple HIV-related projects at the Houston Department of Health and Human Services. My research interests include improving access and retention to care for HIV-positive patients.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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