Guiding People Living with HIV to the Recovery Finish Line
New York’s new Medicaid special needs plans deliver vital, targeted care to people living with HIV and others who need it most.
This article was originally published in HIV Plus magazine online on November 24, 2019. Please click here to read more.
As runners in the recent New York City marathon were reminded, the course is 26.2 miles long. Stopping at mile 26 isn’t good enough — in fact, those last 385 yards can be the toughest. That applies as well to the remarkable, tireless efforts of the medical research and healthcare communities who are working together to bring the AIDS epidemic to an end — a finish line that is today clearly in sight.
The HIV virus has taken more than 35 million lives worldwide since it was first identified in 1984. But today, the combination of revolutionary antiretroviral drugs, innovative treatment modalities, outreach, education, and robust networks of expert providers and care coordinators has changed an HIV diagnosis from a virtual death sentence to a challenging path to a treatable, ultimately preventable disease. In fact, a 2017 study cited in MedicalNewsToday.com reports that the additional life expectancy for a 20-year-old AIDS patient, which was 11.8 years in the days of more primitive monotherapy treatment, has incredibly risen to 54.9 in the current combination antiretroviral treatment era — and most HIV-positive people who quickly get on treatment today are expected to live as long as the general population.
A committed cohort of healthcare practitioners is helping to control the virus and end its spread by coordinating the care and the vitally important treatment plan adherence of people living with HIV. I’m very proud to say that in keeping with its 126-year mission of compassion and care for the indigent, the chronically ill, and elderly New Yorkers, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) — the non-profit where I work — is playing an important role in controlling HIV in the New York City area through its CHOICE SelectHealth Medicaid Special Needs Plan (SNP).
Read more here: https://www.hivplusmag.com/treatment/2019/11/24/guiding-people-living-hiv-recovery-finish-line.
