Building a community-based consortium for AIDS patient services

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Healthcare Management
• Community Health

Background:

• A metropolitan public health care system sought Federal funding for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patient treatment over three years.
• Initial proposals focused solely on a medical model for AIDS care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the evolution of a healthcare funding strategy for AIDS patients.
• To highlight the shift towards integrating community-based organizations (CBOs) in patient care.
• To demonstrate the impact of a multidisciplinary services consortium on healthcare costs.

Main Methods:

• Incremental revision of Federal funding proposals over a three-year period.
• Increased emphasis on the role and activities of community-based organizations (CBOs) in successive applications.
• Development and implementation of an interdisciplinary, broadly based services consortium.

Main Results:

• The third funding application successfully incorporated 34.5% of the budget for CBO activities.
• The established consortium has been instrumental in reducing medical care costs for AIDS patients.
• A significant 55.9% reduction in the cost of medical care for AIDS patients was achieved.

Conclusions:

• Integrating CBOs into healthcare models is crucial for comprehensive and cost-effective AIDS patient management.
• Collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches, like the Denver services consortium, can lead to substantial healthcare cost savings.
• The successful funding strategy demonstrates the value of adapting healthcare models to incorporate community support services.