New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation

Grant Status

Completed

Project Title

An Evaluation of Expanded HIV Testing

Award Amount

$73,554

Location

Manhattan

Website

http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/home/home.shtml

Date Awarded

November 16, 2006

Twenty-five percent of people who are infected with HIV do not know it. In fact, according to New York City health officials, each year more than 1,000 city residents find out they have HIV only when they come down with an AIDS-related illness.

Clearly, there is an urgent need for more testing, and this grant to the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (NYCHHC) aims to identify the best models to accomplish that end. Specifically, this grant supports a program to evaluate each HIV testing method used in the City's public hospitals for effectiveness.

In 2006, to take advantage of new tests that provide results within 20 minutes, NYCHHC began a program to do routine HIV testing in some inpatient services, outpatient clinics, and emergency departments. This program increased the percentage of people tested by 60%. A team of evaluators is systematically assessing each of the testing practices utilized by public hospitals to identify which approaches have been the most successful in maximizing limited resources. At the end of the grant, the evaluators will make recommendations to NYCHHC on how best to integrate HIV testing into routine medical care settings.

NYCHHC serves 1.3 million primarily low-income patients in New York City through 11 acute care hospitals, six diagnostic and treatment centers, four long-term care facilities, more than100 small community-extension clinics, a home health agency, and a health maintenance organization.