Integrating community health workers into HIV care teams: Impact on HIV care outcomes

Abstract

Objectives

To assess the impact of a Community Health Worker (CHW) intervention within HIV primary care on patient outcomes.

Methods

We evaluated a 10-site initiative integrating CHWs into HIV care, examining changes in three outcomes: viral load suppression, a prescription for ART, and appointment attendance. We also assessed the relationship between the three outcomes and the number of CHW encounters.

Results

Of 397 participants, most were male and African-American. The mean days of encounters over the first 6 months was 11 per participant. All outcomes improved in the first 6 months: percent with a primary care visit from 49.9 to 84.7% (p < .000); percent with an active ART prescription from 66.9 to 91.3% (p < .000); percent virally suppressed from 22.4 to 43.7% (p < .000). No statistically significant relationship between number of encounters and improvement in outcomes was found.

Conclusions

CHW interventions in HIV primary care can lead to improvements in HIV outcomes.

Keywords:

• Care continuum
• community health workers
• HIV
• viral suppression