1326. Comorbid Mental Health Disorders Are a Key But Manageable Barrier to Suppression of HIV Viral Load

Abstract

BackgroundKentucky sits at the epicenter of the HIV epidemic in the United States and harbors 54 of the top 220 HIV/HCV outbreak vulnerable counties in the United States; 44 of which are served by the Bluegrass Care Clinic at the University of Kentucky. Understanding the barriers to care at the frontlines of the epidemic is of critical importance in the work toward the eventual elimination of HIV in the United States and elsewhere.MethodsThe Bluegrass Care Clinic has achieved viral suppression in 90% of the HIV-positive patients enrolled in care. Given the catchment area served by this clinic, however, the unsuppressed 10% of patients likely represent the tip of an iceberg of undiagnosed patients or those lost to care from remote and at-risk communities. We developed a quality improvement project to specifically review the barriers to achieving viral suppression in this subset of patients in our clinic. Additionally, we developed an outreach algorithm for patients identified as having comorbid mental health issues to increase engagement in both HIV and mental healthcare.ResultsWe found that nearly 45% of virally unsuppressed patients in our clinic had comorbid mental health disease and 30% had substance use disorders. Female sex was associated with being unsuppressed (P = 0.003); however, age and race were not predictive. Of the patients identified as having mental health barriers to care, 58% were able to be contacted using our outreach algorithm and 58% of these patients accepted referral into a mental health service. In this first 12 months of this program 26% of these patients achieved viral suppression and an additional 18% had substantial decreases in their viral loads.ConclusionThis preliminary report highlights the importance of identifying and addressing barriers to care. Comorbid mental disorders have consistently been associated with greater difficulties in achieving viral suppression. We present an effective and successful program for engaging patients in mental healthcare using an interdisciplinary outreach program that is designed to be generalizable. These data set the stage for reaching the missing subset of patients who are not currently engaged in HIV care, a critical next step for universal test and treat and 90/90/90 strategies. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.