Search »
- Use quotation marks (e.g., "RSR Manual") to search for exact phrases.
- You must be logged in to search for people in the Ryan White/TargetHIV community.
Content type
Topic Areas
Source
Publication Date
- Telehealth
Telehealth is the provision of medical services at a distance via technology. Telehealth has been around for several decades and includes a wide range of methods (e.g., phone, video conferencing, text messaging, mobile apps). Telehealth is used for clinician/client appointments as well as clinician-to-clinician consultations. Telehealth can help break down challenges like transportation and patient stigma fears over going to an HIV care site.
Learn more at Telehealth.hhs.gov and HRSA Telehealth Programs
- Black/African American
Nearly half of those getting care from HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) are black/African American. Viral suppression rates are comparable to the overall RWHAP client population, but disparities remain. HIV care programs and technical assistance and training focus on overcoming such challenges as limited access to health services, stigma due to sexual orientation, and housing.
- Collaboration
People with HIV often have a range of medical and support needs that may be met more efficiently when agencies work together. Collaboration takes various forms, like referral arrangements, planning (e.g., sharing of data, participation in planning), common fiscal/grants management processes, single intake/eligibility systems, and sharing/adoption of best practices in HIV service delivery.
- Data Utilization
Data can be used to educate agency leaders and other decision-makers in order to lead efforts toward changes and enhancement of HIV care and public health approaches to ending the HIV epidemic and curing hepatitis C. Data utilization can be applied in the design of agency services, community planning, integration of data systems, and identification of cluster outbreaks.
- Disparities
Quality improvement activities seek to improve care delivery. Efforts that focus on disparities are designed to identify disparities faced by specific subpopulations, most often those that are attributable to social determinants of health, in order to improve their health outcomes.
Access create+equity Collaborative and end+disparities ECHO Collaborative tools.
- Emerging and Innovative Models
HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau has adopted a broad strategy for identifying HIV service delivery models. At one end of the spectrum are relatively flexible criteria for identifying emerging and innovative models, based on “real world” efficacy. At the other end of the spectrum are more rigorous evidence-informed standards.
- Integrated Care
Some care delivery models are designed to address multiple care needs in addition to HIV. Conditions include substance abuse, hepatitis, attention to HIV prevention and care, and services for specific populations (e.g., youth, women). Integrated care can be achieved by, for example, a mix of staff and collaboration across service departments.
- Interdisciplinary Teams
Involvement of staff from a range of professions is utilized by some HIV care agencies so that varied client issues can be addressed within the context of a single agency’s care team. Disciplines may include not only HIV clinical care but also opioid treatment, population-specific care expertise, and other areas of experience.
- Hispanic/Latino
Approximately one-fourth of HRSA Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) clients are Hispanic/Latino. Viral suppression rates are slightly above the overall RWHAP average, and overall these clients are younger than average. Technical assistance and training resources focus on, for example, linguistic, cultural, and other barriers to health care.
- Leadership
Involvement of people with HIV is a hallmark of HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP). Leadership of people with HIV takes many forms, from meaningful participation in planning, community advisory boards, and positions in agencies are staff.
- People with Disabilities
Ensuring access for persons with HIV who have disabilities can include, for example, physical access to facilities; presentation of content for those with visual and hearing challenges; and delivery of services for those with cognitive barriers.
- Rapid ART
Rapid ART is the administration of antiretroviral therapy as early as possible after an HIV diagnosis and, ideally, at the same clinic visit as the HIV diagnosis. Rapid ART is the standard of HIV treatment. Clinic processes to adopt rapid ART include development of protocols, staff training, development of teams that can facilitate delivery of rapid ART, and client education.
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are known to increase the risk of HIV transmission from a non-virally suppressed person. STIs are also associated with co-morbidities and mortalities. Technical services focus on enhancing regular screening, treatment, and prevention of STIs among people with HIV.
- Social Media
Social media and mobile technology-based interventions represent potential means to facilitate HIV care continuum engagement, particularly among populations (e.g., youth) that make extensive use of mobile technology. Notable uses include broad social media education/awareness programs, messaging services to engage directly with clients, and mobile applications for providers and patients to communicate, track, and exchange information.
- Transportation
Most people with HIV have very low incomes. Many lack access to private or public transportation to allow them to readily get to HIV medical care and other services. Agencies funded by HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) have developed varied methods for breaking down transportation and other access barriers, like ride services, transportation vouchers, location of clinics in high need areas/convenient to public transportation, and use of telehealth so that clients can avoid lengthy trips to visit clinics in person.
- Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma-informed care involves adjustment of service delivery in order to accommodate the challenges faced by clients due to intimate partner violence, household dysfunction, and abuse connected with, for example, sexual and gender identity, gender, and race. Traumas can manifest physically, mentally, and/or behaviorally and can be addressed by services that help enhance engagement in HIV care.
- HIV Quality Measures Module
The HIV Quality Measures Module (HIVQM) is a tool within the RSR portal that allows recipients to enter aggregate data on the HRSA HAB Performance Measures. Use of the HIVQM is voluntary.
HIVQM provides recipients and their subrecipients an easy-to-use and structured platform to continually monitor their performance in serving clients, particularly in access to care and the provision of quality HIV services. It may be helpful to recipients and subrecipients as they set goals for performance measures and quality improvement projects. Finally, it also allows recipients to obtain reports that compare providers regionally and nationally against other providers.
HRSA expects the HIVQM to support clinical quality management, performance measurement, service delivery, and client monitoring at both the recipient and client levels, enhancing the quality and utility of the submitted data.
- Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative
The Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative is a collaborative effort across U.S. federal agencies to reduce the number of new HIV infections in the United States by 75 percent by 2025, and then by at least 90 percent by 2030, for an estimated 250,000 total HIV infections averted. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is a key player in this effort. Many recipients and TA providers have received funding for intensive local and regional program planning, coordination, and implementation activities. Access the latest RWHAP data reports and slide decks, including the EHE Data Report.
See AHEAD.HIV.gov to track the initiative's progress and access TAP-in TA/training for EHE jurisdictions.
- Data Integration
Data systems and integration training and technical assistance (T/TA) to address needs related to how and where data are collected and stored as well as how data are linked or mapped across multiple systems. T/TA topics include, and are not limited to:
- Linking data from multiple sources (e.g. EHRs, RSR/ADR-Ready Systems, HIV surveillance)
- Enhancing data-related capacity and infrastructure
The resources on this page on will help you develop data integration processes, implement best practices, and understand lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid in data integration. Reach out to the DISQ Team for specialized assistance related to data integration.
- Program Terms Report/Allocation Report & Expenditures Report
The RWHAP Program Terms Report (PTR)/Allocations Report and RWHAP Expenditures Report document how RWHAP recipients allocate and subsequently expend funds for each budget period. This page contains resources to help recipients complete these reports.