An HIV health plan patient navigation program: Engaging HIV positive individuals in primary medical care

Abstract

This paper evaluates a patient navigation component of a multi-level program that helps HIV-positive members of a New York City Medicaid health plan sustain engagement in medical care. A proportional hazard analysis of 856 participants found that assignment to a patient navigator shortened the time to a medical care visit by 40%, but was not associated with time retained in care. These results demonstrate that a health plan can expedite connection to care through patient navigation services. They further suggest that to sustain retention in care, patient navigation may need to be continued after initial connection to care.

Keywords:

• Entry into care
• HIV care
• HIV/AIDS
• patient navigator
• program evaluation
• treatment retention

Acknowledgements

AIDS United through its Positive Charge Initiative supported the research for his study through a grant to Amida Care with a subcontract for local evaluation to Columbia University. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the views of AIDS United.