African-American and Hispanic HIV-infected youth are a high risk group for not remaining in HIV care. We examined differences in retention in care among 174 HIV-infected African-American and Hispanic youth between 13 and 23 years old who presented for HIV primary care between 1 January 2002 and 31 August 2008. Patients were included in three service eras, based on when they entered the clinic: when no youth-specific services were available (the decentralized era), after formation of a youth clinic staffed by adolescent providers and a case-manager (the centralized era), and after educational activities and support groups were added and the social services staff were trained in the use of motivational interviewing (the centralized with supportive services era). Patient and attendance data for the 12-months following entry into care were captured. Retention in HIV care was examined using two different measures: adequate visit constancy (at least three quarters with at least one visit in each quarter) and having a gap in care (two consecutive medical visits ≥180 days apart). Adequate visit constancy improved by service era from 31% in the decentralized era to 57% in the centralized era and 65% in the centralized with supportive services era (p=0.01). The percent of patients with no gap in care remained stable at about 80% in the decentralized and centralized eras, but then increased to 96% in the centralized with supportive services era (p=0.04). Results suggest that centralizing youth-specific care and expanding youth services can improve retention in HIV care. These system changes should be considered when resources allow.

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Background The Routine Universal Screening for HIV (RUSH) program provides opt-out HIV testing and linkage to care for emergency department (ED) patients in Harris Health System, Houston, TX. Seventy-five percent of patients testing positive in this program have been previously diagnosed. Whether linkage to care is increased among these patients is unknown. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of persons tested for HIV in the ED between 2008–2012 but had a previously documented positive HIV test ≥1 year prior. Outcomes were engagement in care (≥1 HIV outpatient visits in 6 months), retention in care (≥2 HIV outpatient visits in 12 months, at least 3 months apart) and virologic suppression (<200 c/ml in 12 months) compared before and after the ED visit. Analysis was conducted using McNemar’s test and multivariate conditional logistic regression. Results A total of 202,767 HIV tests identified 2068 previously diagnosed patients. The mean age was 43 years with 65% male and 87% racial and ethnic minorities. Engagement in care increased from 41.3% pre-visit to 58.8% post-visit (P<0.001). Retention in care increased from 32.6% pre-visit to 47.1% post-visit (P<0.001). Virologic suppression increased from 22.8% pre-visit to 34.0% post-visit (P<0.001). Analyses revealed that engagement in care after visit improved most among younger participants (ages 16 to 24), retention improved across all groups, and virologic suppression improved most among participants 25 to 34 years old. Conclusions Routine opt-out HIV testing in an ED paired with standardized service linkage improves engagement, retention, and virologic suppression in previously diagnosed patients.

Conspiracy beliefs about HIV may result in delayed diagnosis, medication non-adherence, and low retention in care. The impact of such beliefs is not well described for minority youth. We assessed conspiracy beliefs, trust in physicians, and trust in the health care system in 47 HIV-infected, minority, adolescent men who have sex with men (MSM). We identified correlations of these factors with two intermediate outcomes (general self-efficacy and medication attitudes) and with three clinical outcomes (CD4 cell count at diagnosis, linkage to care, and retention in care). Greater conspiracy beliefs were associated with negative medication attitudes (r=-0.37, p=.01), while trust in physicians was correlated with positive medication attitudes (r=0.42, p=.003). Neither conspiracy beliefs nor trust was correlated with self-efficacy, nor were they correlated with any of the three clinical outcomes. Conspiracy beliefs and lack of trust did not predict delayed diagnosis or poor linkage and retention in this population of young, minority MSM.

Early HIV detection and treatment decreases morbidity and mortality and reduces high-risk behaviors. Many Emergency Departments (EDs) have HIV screening programs as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recent federal legislation includes incentives for electronic health record (EHR) adoption. Our objective was to analyze the impact of conversion to EHR on a mature ED-based HIV screening program. A retrospective pre- and post-EHR implementation cohort study was conducted in a large urban, academic ED. Medical records were reviewed for HIV screening rates from August 2008 through October 2013. On 1 November 2010, a comprehensive EHR system was implemented throughout the hospital. Before EHR implementation, labs were requested by providers by paper orders with HIV-1/2 automatically pre-selected on every form. This universal ordering protocol was not duplicated in the new EHR; rather it required a provider to manually enter the order. Using a chi-squared test, we compared HIV testing in the 6 months before and after EHR implementation; 55,054 patients presented before, and 50,576 after EHR implementation. Age, sex, race, acuity of presenting condition, and HIV seropositivity rates were similar pre- and post-EHR, and there were no major patient or provider changes during this period. Average HIV testing rate was 37.7% of all ED patients pre-, and 22.3% post-EHR, a 41% decline (p < 0.0001), leading to 167 missed new diagnoses after EHR. The rate of HIV screening in the ED decreased after EHR implementation, and could have been improved with more thoughtful inclusion of existing human processes in its design.