LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. – IPRO was recently awarded a five-year contract from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute (NYSDOH AI) to fulfill a variety of functions that will help ensure that individuals with or at risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and/or sexually-transmitted infections have access to high quality health care and achieve equity in their health status.
IPRO has been working with the NYSDOH AI for more than three decades. IPRO initially provided measurement and evaluation of Medical Special Needs Plans (SNPs), innovative care delivery models developed by the NYSDOH in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. While still deeply involved in that work, over the ensuing decades, IPRO’s scope has expanded to also include:
- Tracking and measuring key indicators for babies born to HIV-infected mothers
- Performing sophisticated, multi-indicator quality of care reviews focused on
- HIV
- Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
- HIV and COVID-19
- HIV and aging
- HIV mortality
- social determinants of health and health equity
- Health Home enrollees
- HIV-at-risk homeless and transgender individuals
- Supporting New York State’s End the Epidemic (ETE) initiative by designing and implementing programs that
- Promote development and implementation of HIV testing policies in inpatient and ambulatory healthcare settings
- Monitor the use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)
- Assess viral load suppression and retention in care of HIV patients
- Evaluate access to care for individuals at higher risk of HIV infection such as those who are homeless, transgender, and substance users
- Provide data to the DOH on HIV mortality
- Provide data to the DOH on HIV-related public health concerns, such as sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis C screening and testing
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, in March 2020 IPRO was asked to develop a data collection tool that would allow the NYSDOH to quickly evaluate the efficacy of using hydroxychloroquine (HQC) in the treatment of severe Covid-19 infection. IPRO designed the tool, abstracted data from 1,500 patient medical charts, and collaborated on the data analysis. The resulting study demonstrating that treatment with HCQ with or without azithromycin was not associated with lower mortality was published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) only weeks after abstraction. In what had been called the most important study of Covid-19 at that time, this work contributed toward the rapid and substantial decline in HCQ utilization globally.
Based on this success, IPRO has been asked to collaborate with the NYSDOH on two additional studies, one examining the impact of COVID-19 on those living with HIV, and another looking at HIV and Aging.
“Our team is excited to continue working with the NYSDOH on its AIDS initiatives,” said Matthew Roberts, MPH, DrPH, Vice President, State Healthcare Assessment at IPRO, who noted that future work under this contract will include projects focused on special populations including HIV-infected mothers as well as those who are incarcerated. “We have a dedicated, well-rounded team that is committed to contributing to the state’s effort to end the epidemic and improve the quality of care for those living with HIV.”
About the NYSDOH AI: The AIDS Institute is committed to eliminating new infections, improving the health and well‐being of persons living with HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and viral hepatitis, and improving LGBTQ and drug user health. This mission can be concisely stated as “End epidemics, fight stigma, promote health.”
About IPRO: IPRO is a national, not-for-profit healthcare organization that works with government agencies, providers and consumers to implement innovative programs that bring policy ideas to life. IPRO does this by making creative use of clinical expertise, emerging technology, data solutions, and diverse marketplace experience to make the healthcare system work better. Incorporated in 1983, IPRO is one of the nation’s largest and most experienced healthcare quality improvement organizations. Visit ipro.org to learn more.
April 21, 2022