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Change in
Care Scares AIDS Patients |
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Last month, Florida's
Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) announced it had terminated its
AIDS care contracts with the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in
favor of a small, for-profit company.
For eight years, AHF has contracted with the state, monitoring AIDS patients
on Medicaid to ensure they receive proper treatment and cost-effective care.
It serves around 7,700 patients statewide. California-based AHF has also
advocated on behalf of patients and has been critical of how Florida handles
AIDS patients on Medicaid.
AHCA said it will award the contracts to Specialty Disease Management
Services (SDM), which is based in Jacksonville. SDM won the contract with
its proposal to monitor patients for about $9 million over two years, more
than $2 million less than AHF spent on those services last year. SDM founder
and President Fred Goldstein said his company will use a combination of
"telephonic" nurses and community-based nurses to meet the goal. While he
declined to give a specific count, he said there will be more in-person
nurses than phone nurses.
AHF sends more than 70 nurses out to monitor patients. Face-to-face contact
is especially critical for patients who are low-income and lack regular
phone service, said Gene Bundrock, AHF's director in Florida.
"The new vendor has a considerably reduced staff," said Bundrock. "I believe
it will be about 16 field nurses for the entire state."
Goldstein said SDM, which has served several states' Medicaid patients since
its start in 1997, will boost patient oversight with improved software to
track patients' health status, related problems, and gaps in care. SDM
previously was a subcontractor for AHF, so it already has experience with
Florida's HIV/AIDS
population, he added.
Concerned the decision may have been politically driven due to its sometimes
aggressive advocacy, AHF has filed a formal protest of the contract award. A
hearing by the state Division of Administrative Hearings is expected.
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Tampa Tribune
(06.02.07):: Catherine Dolinski |
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We are providing the above information as a public
service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay
media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases
does not constitute endorsement. The above summaries were prepared
without conducting any additional research or investigation into the
facts and statements made in the articles being summarized, and
therefore readers are expressly cautioned against relying on the
validity or invalidity of any statements made in these summaries. This
CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News
Update also includes information from CDC and
other government agencies, such as background on MMWR articles, fact
sheets and announcements. |
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