Reaching lost-to-care populations

Abstract

Identification of patients who are at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection can lead to reduced frequencies of high-risk behaviors, provision of timely care for infected individuals, and decreased transmission of HIV. The HIV-associated outreach programs at the OASIS Clinic of the King-Harbor/Drew University complex (Los Angeles, CA) has 3 components: a traditional partner-notification (i.e., contact-tracing) component, a focused-intervention component through which clients are given incentives to bring in persons they feel are at high risk for HIV infection, and an outreach component targeting hard-to-reach populations. These interventions are highly effective in identifying individuals early during the course of their disease, when initiation of antiretroviral therapy is most effective. The partner-services program at the OASIS Clinic has been particularly useful in identifying partners of HIV-positive women, whereas the focused-intervention program is most useful for identifying gay men who are unaware of their positive HIV serostatus. Successful targeted outreach programs can identify many individuals who would not otherwise be aware of their HIV infection, but the programs also require more clinicians to manage these patients.