Data to Care Pilot Program in Chicago: Experience, Outcomes, and Direction for the Future.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Data to Care (D2C) facilitates HIV surveillance data sharing between healthcare facilities and health departments to enhance care for people with HIV (PLWH).
• A D2C pilot program was implemented by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) at the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) from June 2016 to September 2019.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the proportion of patients not in care at UCM who could be matched to CDPH's enhanced HIV/AIDS Reporting System (eHARS).
• To identify individual-level factors associated with successful data matching and viral suppression among PLWH.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective program evaluation of the D2C pilot program.
• Analysis of data from adult PLWH receiving care at UCM but lacking current documented visits.

Main Results:

• 72.4% of patients reported by UCM were successfully matched to CDPH's eHARS.
• Older age (40+ years) was associated with higher matching probability, while residing outside Chicago or having unknown zip codes decreased matching likelihood.
• Men who have sex with men and individuals over 50 were more likely to achieve viral suppression.

Conclusions:

• D2C is an effective strategy for re-engaging PLWH in care, contingent on successful data matching.
• A significant number of patients, particularly younger individuals and those outside Chicago, were not matched, indicating challenges in data linkage.
• Further research is necessary to optimize data matching processes and improve re-engagement in HIV care.