Effective July 1, 2010, all persons applying for enrollment into the GA ADAP will be placed on a waiting list.  You will not be affected if you are currently enrolled, pick up your medications at scheduled times and have no changes in your eligibility status.   

If you fail to pick up your medications within 60 days or do not recertify on time, your status will automatically be changed to inactive and your case manager will be notified.  When you apply to be re-enrolled in the ADAP you will be placed on the waiting list until we are able to enroll new clients.  If you are placed on the waiting list, your case manager will provide you with information on other programs which provide drug assistance. 

It is our aim to continue to provide you with life saving medications, quality services and committed staff to enable you to sustain your current quality of life.   

If you have questions, please contact your case manager. 

[Source: Georgia Department of Community Health]

PCIP will be operative in all 50 states and the District of Columbia but likely will vary from state-to-state.  Under the Affordable Care Act, states have the option to operate their own high-risk pool (including any pool that pre-dates the new law) or elect to have HHS administer the high-risk plan.  Twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C. have decided to operate their own plans.  Among the 29 states are California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington State.  Twenty-one states have opted to have HHS operate the plan.  These states include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

A brochure on PCIP can be found at www.Healthcare.gov/center/brochures/pcip.pdf. 

 State-specific information can be found on the new Web site, www.HealthCare.gov.

According to HHS’s press release, the new Web site is designed to be “a one-stop-shop for information about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act as well as other health care resources,” and will help consumers to “take control of their health care and make the choices that are right for them, by putting the power of information at their fingertips.”

Among the site’s Web pages are “Find Insurance Options,” “Learn About Prevention,” and “Information for You,” which has sub-categories for families with children, people with disabilities, senior citizens, and young adults.  The Home Page also includes a “Top 5 Things to Know” section.  Several of the pages have a feedback mechanism to gauge whether the page was helpful.

HHS promises that the HealthCare.gov will evolve and grow as health care reform is implemented and as the health care market changes.  Price estimates for health insurance plans are scheduled to be added in October, 2010.

The above information is posted by permission of AIDS Action.  While this information comes from a reliable source, GAC does not warrant its accuracy or application to individual cases.

1) How Planning Councils can best support consumer members to ensure that these members are not marginalized in the planning council process and that their voices are not just present, but meaningful.

2) How Consumers can be more effective members on Planning Councils and do not marginalize themselves and engage in the council’s work in a productive and meaningful way.

We invite PLWHA who would like to help develop these best practices to join our conference calls.  Our May conference call is scheduled for Wednesday May 12, 2010 at Noon Eastern, 11 AM  CT, 10 AM MT, 9 AM ET.  Please email me at rallgaier@shanti.org if you wish to participate so I can send you the call in information.

Randy Allgaier
Co-Chair, CAEAR PLWHA Caucus

Director, San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council
730 Polk Street 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94109
Direct Phone- 415-674-4761
Fax: 415.674.0373

You can read, print, and share the brochure at www.immigrationequality.org/HIVban

Please share these materials widely, and please don’t hesitate to request print copies of the brochure by contacting Immigration Equality at publications@immigrationequality.org

• The repeal is good news for many people who abandoned past green card applications because they – or the family member they hoped to sponsor – couldn’t qualify for a waiver to the HIV ban. 
• It is great news for tourists, students, and businesspeople living with HIV/AIDS, who were not able to visit the U.S. until now. 
• It also provides an opportunity to encourage immigrants to seek testing and treatment, which some may have been afraid to do before. 
• Most importantly, the repeal is proof that it is possible to end discriminatory immigration laws, and that some vestiges of AIDS-stigma are finally ending.

We hope you will find these materials useful and will share them with others inside and outside the US who may be affected by the repeal of the ban.

Hepatitis B and C affect 5 million people in the United States and cause 15,000 deaths per year. An estimated 25-30% of people with HIV also have hepatitis C.

Despite these stats, the response from the federal government has been highly inadequate. Viral hepatitis prevention programs at the CDC receive a mere $19.3 million per year. That is the only dedicated funding stream to deal with this massive crisis. The Institutes of Medicine recently released a report calling for greater leadership and increased federal funding.

Hepatitis advocates have decided that this is the year to be silent no more – therefore, we are taking it to the Capitol.

Those of us who work in HIV and hepatitis advocacy would like to ask for help from our HIV advocacy partners to make this rally a success. As we all know, a rally is only as good as the attention it gets from the media, the public, and key decision-makers. To help up reach this goal, we are asking you to consider helping in one or more of the following ways:

1.       Outreach and recruitment.  People can register to attend and get information about bus rides from various cities on the East Coast, lodging, and other details by going to NVHR’s website, www.nvhr.org. Please consider [contacting] your constituents, particularly those on the East Coast, and urge them to attend and to spread the word. We need a big turnout to attract attention.

2.       If you are in DC or near DC, please consider attending and bringing colleagues. A strong turnout from the DC-based HIV advocacy community would be greatly welcomed and appreciated. Go to www.nvhr.org to register and let us know how many people you can bring.

3.       Endorsements – we are asking organizations across the country to endorse this rally to demonstrate that this is a national movement with broad support. You can send your organization’s endorsement on the registration form at www.nvhr.org (you don’t need to register to endorse) or you can endorse by emailing the name of your organization to Mimi Schott at NVHR: mschott@nvhr.org.

4.       Donations. This is always the hardest ask – but these events cost money. We want it to be as professional as possible and that requires equipment, printed signs, etc. We are also renting buses and trying to provide other travel assistance as possible. We know that this is a tough time for all organizations, but ask that you consider making a small contribution to this effort. All donations are appreciated and any donation over $100 will be acknowledged in written materials and/or the NVHR website. If you can make a donation, please email me directly and I will get you the contact information.

Thanks for taking the time to read this over. If you have any questions, please let me know. NASTAD and Project Inform will be speaking more about this event and the viral hepatitis advocacy movement/agenda at the next FAPP meeting in April.

“The steps that President Obama outlined tonight are a great leap forward in addressing discrimination affecting LGBT patients and their families,” said Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal Executive Director. “These measures are intended to ensure that no family will have to experience what the Langbehn-Pond family did that night at Jackson Memorial Hospital. We are so proud of Janice and her family ­ she stood up and told her story and it made a difference.”

Last September, a federal district court rejected Lambda Legal’s lawsuit filed against Jackson Memorial Hospital on behalf of Janice Langbehn, ruling that no law required the hospital to allow her and their three children to see her partner. Langbehn and the children were kept apart from Pond by hospital staff for eight hours as Pond slipped into a coma and later died. After that Lambda Legal worked with other LGBT organizations and officials at Jackson Memorial Hospital to change hospital policies on visitation and respecting the wishes of same-sex couples and their families.

The President’s memorandum to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services includes the following: HHS should promulgate rules for hospitals that receive Medicaid or Medicare funds that require them to respect the rights of patients to designate visitors.  HHS should also take steps to ensure that such hospitals have adequate policies to respect the legal documents that some patients have designating who can make decisions for them if they are incapacitated.  Finally, the President directs HHS to report back to him in 180 days with additional recommendations about actions it can take to address hospital visitation, medical decision-making and other health care issues that affect LGBT patients and their families.

“It was very rewarding to hear ‘I’m sorry’ from the President because that’s what I have wanted to hear from Jackson Memorial since the night Lisa died, ” said Janice Langbehn. “I hope that taking these steps makes sure that no family ever has to experience the nightmare that my family has gone through.”

[Source: Lambda Legal. Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.]

Chronic hepatitis B and C cause thousands of cases of liver cancer, liver disease, and death each year — taking the heaviest toll among Asians, Pacific Islanders, and blacks in the U.S. — and these infections account for nearly half of the liver transplantations that must be performed annually.  Resources and efforts to contain the viruses that cause hepatitis B and C lag behind those directed at other infectious diseases of similar impact to public health, noted the committee that wrote the report.

“Although hepatitis B and C are preventable, the rates of infection have not declined over the past several years, underscoring the conclusion that we have allowed gaps in screening, prevention, and treatment to go unchecked,” said committee chair R. Palmer Beasley, professor of epidemiology and disease control, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston.  “This report outlines the additional resources and actions needed to reduce the unacceptably high burden of liver disease and cancer associated with these viruses.”

An estimated 800,000 to 1.4 million Americans have chronic hepatitis B and between 2.7 million and 3.9 million have chronic hepatitis C.  The majority of infected individuals are not aware of their condition until they develop symptoms of liver cancer or liver disease.  Few among the populations most at risk — immigrants from countries where the diseases are endemic, non-Hispanic black men, injection-drug users, and people who had blood transfusions before 1992 — seek testing or information on how to protect themselves from infection.  Moreover, health care and social service providers’ knowledge about hepatitis B and C is generally poor, and many fail to follow guidelines for screening patients and providing prevention, treatment, and follow-up services. 

The report calls for a public awareness initiative along the lines of the effort that succeeded in increasing recognition, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS, which affects three to five times fewer Americans than viral hepatitis.  Educational programs and materials that outline risk factors for viral hepatitis and provide information on immunization, prevention, and proper monitoring of infected individuals should be developed and made available to all health professionals and social service providers.

Steps need to be taken to eliminate the stigma associated with viral hepatitis.  Negative attitudes about hepatitis B in some cultures may contribute to immigrants’ reluctance to seek testing.  In China, for example, people with chronic hepatitis B face job and social discrimination.  In addition, negative perceptions about illicit-drug users, who make up the greatest percentage of those with hepatitis C, can affect the care they receive or their willingness to seek care. 

Although the availability of an effective vaccine against hepatitis B has significantly reduced its spread, some 1,000 infants born to infected mothers develop chronic infections each year, a number that has not declined over the past decade.  Moreover, three states — Alabama, Montana, and South Dakota — still do not require that children be vaccinated against hepatitis B before entering daycare or school.  All full-term newborns whose mothers test positive for hepatitis B should receive the vaccine once they are stable and before leaving the delivery room rather than up to 12 hours after birth as is currently recommended.  All states should make hepatitis B vaccination a requirement for school attendance, and health plans need to fully cover the costs associated with the immunization.  Particular attention should be given to screening and vaccinating children who were born in countries where hepatitis B circulates widely.  Each year, roughly 40,000 to 45,000 people legally emigrate to the United States from countries where hepatitis B is endemic.

Health care and social services related to viral hepatitis are sparse and fragmented among providers and organizations, leading to missed opportunities to prevent the spread of infection and to lessen the impact of chronic infections, the report concludes.  The committee recommended several steps to create a more-coordinated approach, including ways to improve identification of infected individuals, social and peer support to reduce the stigma of infection, and medical management of those with chronic hepatitis B or C.  These strategies are aimed at not just health professionals in hospitals and doctors’ offices, but also individuals and groups that provide services to at-risk populations, including prisons and jails, HIV and STD clinics, shelter-based programs, and mobile health units.

People at greatest risk for hepatitis B include individuals born in East and Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and other areas where the virus circulates widely; infants born to women with the disease; and those who have sexual contact or share injection-drug equipment with an infected person. Asians and Pacific Islanders make up 4.5 percent of the U.S. population but account for more than 50 percent of chronic hepatitis B cases.  Those at greatest risk for hepatitis C are individuals who received a blood transfusion before 1992 and past or current injection-drug users.  The chances of contracting hepatitis C increase with years of drug use and may be as high as 90 percent among long-term users.  Deaths related to hepatitis C have increased, with the highest number occurring among middle-aged men, non-Hispanic blacks, and American Indians.  

The report was sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable.  Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public.  The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies.

Copies of HEPATITIS AND LIVER CANCER: A NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF HEPATITIS B AND C are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at HTTP://WWW.NAP.EDU.  Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above.  Additional information on the study can be found at HTTP://WWW.IOM.EDU/VIRALHEPATITIS.

[ This news release and report are available at HTTP://NATIONAL-ACADEMIES.ORG ]

Despite the diversity in setting and respondents, a core set of common themes emerged across all of the recommendations.  Today, we are releasing a report of the major themes that we heard from the public .

Throughout this process we heard that people want to bring the issue of HIV/AIDS back into the forefront of the American psyche through efforts such as social marketing campaigns and comprehensive HIV prevention and education for youth, injection drug users, communities of color, and gay and bisexual men.  Access to care was also commonly discussed.  Specifically, expanding support services for people living with HIV and the need to diagnose and treat co-occurring conditions such as Hepatitis, substance use, mental health, and markers of economic instability (e.g. housing, joblessness).    

Even when access to treatment is available, the stigma surrounding an HIV diagnosis may be too great for people to get tested or enroll in care. We heard from many people living with HIV who spoke about the stigma associated with being HIV-positive and its effect on their daily lives.    Many people discussed the ways in which stigma and discrimination contributed to HIV-related racial, geographic, and gender disparities. People also described personal accounts of discrimination and stigma from providers and difficulties in accessing a range of services, including dental care and prenatal care. 

Last, many expressed the importance of coordinating HIV prevention and treatment activities across the Federal government.  Many also expressed the importance of evaluating current HIV prevention and care efforts and making sure that these evaluation activities help guide Federal, state and local activities and funding. 

These recommendations are only a subset of the input that we had received and many more recommendations for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy are detailed in the community discussions report. Not all of the recommendations, however, will appear in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  To be effective, the strategy must include a small number of high payoff items that will address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.  Nevertheless, we intend for this community report to provide a baseline for the status of the domestic epidemic and serve as a planning tool and resource for Federal, State and local agencies. We are grateful for the many Americans who helped make this report possible and for the many insightful recommendations that will go a long way in ensuring that the National HIV/AIDS Strategy is a success.

Posted by GMillett on April 09, 2010 at 01:00 PM EDT