The HIV Diagnosis Work Group identified the following priorities for action planning:

• Expand affordable housing programs for persons living with HIV
• Expand North Carolina’s provider network for HIV care and prevention services
• Identify and address gaps in HIV healthcare access for formerly incarcerated populations
• Identify barriers to HIV post exposure prophylaxis being delivered by pharmacists
• Improve provider comfort with incorporating sexual health assessments into routine healthcare services
• Increase access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for individuals at high risk for HIV transmission
• Increase the number of harm reduction programs, including needle exchange programs
• Increase the number of people who know their HIV status and are linked to prevention or treatment services through high impact, coordinated interventions
• Understand the impact of NC’s Medicaid Managed Care Plans on health outcomes for CMS clients living with HIV

March 13, 2023, Small Group Meeting (Small group met to discuss specific objective.)

• Small Group Objective: Increase the number of people who know their HIV status and are linked to prevention and treatment services through high impact, coordinated intervention
  • Discussed writing up RAO and ECU ED testing programs as a best practice
  • Discussed how Medicaid expansion could increase opportunities to educate Emergency Department physicians on importance of testing for HIV

January 30, 2023, Small Group Meeting (Small group met to discuss specific objective.)

• Small Group Objective: Improve provider comfort with incorporating sexual health assessments into routine healthcare services, including HIV/STI screening by providing continuing professional development through NC  AHEC, UNC HTEC, AL/NC STI/HIV PTC to reach providers, as well as residency and medical school programs
  • Attendees: Matt Martin, Veleria Levy, Alicia Diggs, and Victoria Mobley
  • Action Plan/ Next Steps:
    • Defined providers to prioritize for outreach
    • Identify trainings/webinars already developed that can be disseminated (UNC HTEC and AL_NC STI/HIV PTC)
    • Identify partners to help champion importance and disseminate training resources

December 19, 2022, Small Group Meetings (Small groups met to discuss specific objectives.)

• Small Group Objective: Expand NC’s Provider network for HIV care and Prevention
  • Attendees:  Frankie Simmons, Veleria Levy, JeaNelle Plummer, and Victoria Mobley
  • Action Plan/ Next Steps:
    • Prioritize increasing primary care provider adherence to the USPTF recs for HIV screening
    • Assess feasibility and comfort by PCPs for rapid ARV initiation after initial HIV diagnosis to decrease infectious period
• Small Group Objective: Increase access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for individuals at high risk for HIV transmission
  • Attendees: Allison Rice, Hannah Dermitt, and Matt Martin
  • Action Plan/ Next Steps:
    • Plan to meet with the Gilead PrEP team to better understand resources
    • Identify way to disseminate Medicaid FPP enrollment more broadly (covers PrEP clinical care and STI/HIV testing for men and women who qualify)
• Small Group Objective: Expand affordable housing programs for persons living with HIV
  • Attendees: Veleria Levy & Latoya Gardner
  • Action Plan/ Next Steps:
    • Learn best practices from successful programs in existence (House of Mercy, Doorways, Cooper House etc.)
    • Consider feasibility of developing a HIV housing continuum

November 21, 2022, Large Group Member Meeting

Attendees: Matt Martin, Cameron Pruette, Allison Rice, Hannah Demeritt, Matt Jenkins, JeaNelle Plummer, Jeff Thomas, Veleria Levy, Victoria Mobley

Discussion

• Finalized which objective(s) each group member would focus on with smaller group.
• Directed members to plan to meet with smaller groups for more focused work on their identified objectives.
• Changed bi-monthly large group meeting cadence to monthly to allow time for smaller group work. Each small group will document meeting date, summary of discussion, and any action items on shared google document for tracking by larger group.
• Scheduled next Large Group Meeting for Monday, December 5, 2022, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm.

November 7, 2022, 3:00 to 4:30 pm, Work Group Meeting

Attendees: Matt Jenkins, Hannah Demeritt, JeaNelle Plummer, Bernard Davis, Jeff Thomas, Alicia Diggs, Allison Rice, Brittan Joseph, Matt Martin, Veleria Levy, Victoria Mobley

Members not in attendance: Jeffrey Long, Chelsea Golden, Cameron Pruette, Ester Ross, Morgan Hopley

Discussion: 

• Reviewed the HIV Diagnosis policy/program objectives discussed during the Co-Lead meeting and gathered feedback from larger group on feasibility of each objective.
• Settled on the final policy/program objectives the group will work on over the next several months and brainstormed potential action items to pursue for each objective.
  1. Improve provider comfort with incorporating sexual health assessments into routine healthcare services
  2. Identify barriers to HIV post exposure prophylaxis being delivered by pharmacists
  3. Expand affordable housing programs for persons living with HIV
  4. Increase the number of harm reduction programs, including needle exchange programs
  5. Expand North Carolina’s provider network for HIV care and prevention services
  6. Increase the number of people who know their HIV status and are linked to prevention or treatment services through high impact, coordinated interventions
  7. Increase access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for individuals at high risk for HIV transmission
  8. Identify and address gaps in HIV healthcare access for formerly incarcerated populations
  9. Understand the impact of NC’s Medicaid Managed Care Plans on health outcomes for CMS clients living with HIV
• Established the following action items: 
  • Each group member was asked to review the final objectives and identify 1-3 objectives they would like to take the lead on.
  • Next NC SHIP HIV Diagnosis Work Group  meeting will be on November 21, 2022. 

August 31, 2022, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Co-Lead Meeting

Co-Leads Present: Matt Jenkins, Hannah Demeritt, Chelsea Golden, JeaNelle Plummer, Jeffrey Long, Veleria Levy, Victoria Mobley

Discussion:

• Reviewed the HIV Diagnosis policy/program recommendations to identify work that is already ongoing across the state and prioritize the objectives by feasibility.
• Action items from the meeting included:
  • Identify which objectives should be prioritized and which are important, but additional information is needed to determine the feasibility of taking them on during the year.
  • Schedule the first larger work group meeting in the next 2 weeks.

August 30, 2022, 2:00 to 2:30 pm, Co-Lead Planning Meeting

Co-Leads Present: Veleria Levy and Victoria Mobley

Discussion:

• Discussed expectations for the NC SHIP effort and next steps.