2014 AAHIVM/Institute For Technology In Health Care HIV Practice Award Winners Announced
Washington, DC: The American Academy of HIV Medicine is pleased to announce the winners of the third annual AAHIVM/Institute for Technology in Health Care HIV Practice Award. Dr. Joanna Eveland of San Francisco, California and Steve McCrosky of Flagstaff, Arizona, will each receive $10,000 in recognition of their innovative use of technology in the HIV care setting.
“These two winners have both integrated unique technologies into their practices in order to engage populations that may be falling through the crack of continuous HIV care,” stated Richard Prokesch, MD, AAHIVS, who chaired the selection panel that considered the applications. “Ultimately, these technologies are keeping patients in care, which is the one of the biggest challenges in HIV medicine.”
This is the third year AAHIVM has teamed with the Institute for Technology in Health Care on the awards, which were created to help foster best practices in technological developments for the benefit of HIV care providers and patients alike.
Keeping Track of Patients: Dr. Joanna Eveland
In San Francisco, Dr. Joanna Eveland, MS, MD and her multidisciplinary HIV team at the Clinica Esperanza Mission Neighborhood Health Center use the i2iTracks Population Health Management software (www.i2isys.com), implemented in 2011, with usage expanded over the past three years to facilitate linkage and retention as well as treatment adherence for a high-risk population.
“What it is doing is letting us work as a much more efficient team. Our clients want to stay virally suppressed and stay in care, but sometimes they need extra help to do so,” stated Dr. Eveland. “There is always someone on our team who knows where to find them, even if they’re living under a bridge. These are people who otherwise would slip quietly out of care.”
While Dr. Eveland stressed that the service at Clinica Esperanza, which serves about 400 HIV+ patients annually, “was very strong” before the i2i Tracks software was implemented, she said it has consistently improved outcomes over time and has made a big difference. The software has allowed the clinic to shift from a system based on annual audits to real time population management. I2i stands for “interface-to-interface,” and the program inputs data from the Electronic Health Record, practice management system, laboratory, and manually entered data to populate an easily searchable database that can be accessed by any staff member.
“While we are not the first HIV clinic to use i2i Tracks, our incorporation of this technology into the workflow of every member of our multidisciplinary staff has transformed a strong team into an outstanding team, with clinical outcomes that stand in stark contrast to national data,” she said. “Our commitment to training staff on the use of this technology helps guide interventions and QI processes at all levels in our HIV practice.”
Reaching Out to Rural Communities – Steve McCrosky
In the Arizona desert, Steve McCrosky, MSN, FNP, AAHIVS, has implemented multiple telehealth technologies to improve and expand direct clinical care services that help him serve some 200 patients who live in a vast area that takes some seven hours to travel from the eastern-most clinic to the western-most.
Because of this time and distance problem, McCrosky normally would be able to see patients face-to-face from once a month to once every six months, depending upon the number of patients attending the clinic. But through the telemedicine system, meant to augment, not replace, existing services, he can see them as often as twice weekly.
“People living with HIV in northern Arizona face multiple barriers to accessing HIV specialty care,” McCrosky explained. “The few certified HIV specialists and infectious disease physicians in the region are located only in larger cities and geographical distances make travel by patients and providers expensive and time consuming. Small HIV panel sizes, ranging from one patient to 30 patients per city, make it challenging for a community to offer a local provider certified and experienced in HIV specialty care.”
AAHIVM and the Institute for Technology in Health Care recognize that through the creative and effective use of technology, Dr. Eveland and McCrosky are able to treat patients in need, regardless of their social challenges or their location.
“The bottom line is that technology is enabling this care, which otherwise might not be provided to patients who are desperately in need,” state James M. Friedman, AAHIVM executive director. “We hope to continue this award for years to come in order to educate HIV care practitioners with best practices in technology.”
To learn more about each of these technologies, view our VIDEO.
About AAHIVM
The American Academy of HIV Medicine is a professional organization that supports the HIV practitioner and promotes accessible, quality care for all Americans living with HIV disease. Our membership of HIV practitioners and credentialed providers give direct care to more than three-fourths of HIV patients in the US.
About ITHC
The Institute for Technology in Health Care (ITHC) encourages the use of technology in various fields to benefit health care. ITHC wishes to stimulate users, researchers, and students to present papers to groups of their peers, or write articles that demonstrate how they have used technology from any field to benefit the practices of medicine to improve health in any community. It is also interested in stimulating innovative projects that use technology from any field to benefit health.
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.