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AIDS Healthcare Foundation: HHS' Ryan White Reauthorization Plan Offers 'Vast Improvement in AIDS Care'

Posted on: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) the nation's largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care serving thousands of patients at 14 healthcare centers in California and Florida (in addition to operating free AIDS treatment clinics in Africa, Central America and Asia), will host a press conference this morning, Thursday, July 28th at 10:30am in Washington, DC, to comment on the recent White House recommendations for the reauthorization of Ryan White CARE Act, the AIDS program that is the principle source of funding for AIDS care and services for cities and states nationwide, and which is scheduled for Congressional reauthorization this year. Yesterday, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael Leavitt and the Bush Administration released its proposed redesign of the Ryan White CARE Act.

"AHF believes the ideas put forth yesterday by the Administration in its proposed reauthorization plan for the Ryan White CARE Act will result in a vast improvement in the delivery of AIDS care and services nationwide," said Michael Weinstein, AHF's President. "By focusing on medical care and underserved populations, these changes help the CARE Act better address the

current and projected demographics and realities of the epidemic throughout the US."

At the time of the HHS announcement yesterday, AHF congratulated Secretary Leavitt and the Administration on the redesign, including the government's proposal to redirect more Ryan White funding toward critical "core services" including the prioritization of funding directed toward life-saving medical care-specifically its proposal to require a minimum of 75% of Ryan White funds be directed toward such medical care (up from an average of less than 25% currently being spent on such care). AHF also agreed with the proposed efforts to reduce the amount that the 51 eligible metropolitan areas (EMAs- areas most severely affected by HIV/AIDS with at least 2,000 AIDS cases and a general population of 500,000), are allowed to spend on administrative overhead and bureaucracy, and the plan to increase the targeting of these federal resources toward underserved and minority communities.

"We strongly support Secretary Leavitt and HHS for yesterday's announcement to overhaul the Ryan White CARE Act by directing more dollars toward core services, particularly the proposal to require local planning councils to direct up to 75% of Ryan White funding toward medical care," said Michael Weinstein, AHF's President. "First and foremost, today HIV/AIDS is a chronic, but treatable medical condition, and funding for medical care must be a Ryan White priority. AHF also firmly believes that administrative costs can and should be reduced, and that fewer Ryan White dollars should be spent on excess bureaucracy. Finally, this crucial AIDS funding mechanism has not kept pace with the changing demographics of the disease over the years, and we applaud the Administration's efforts to '...serve the neediest first' by directing more funds and services to underserved populations, particularly African-Americans and Latinos."

In its press announcement yesterday, HHS noted that the Ryan White CARE Act "...must be improved and modernized" as part of a nationwide effort to stem the spread of HIV, and that the program must also "...serve the neediest first."

"Unfortunately, current funding still largely reflects a time when HIV/AIDS was a terminal disease," added AHF's Weinstein. "Just last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that over one million Americans are living with HIV-almost half of these infections are among African Americans, and more than one quarter of these individuals are unaware they are infected. Yet in its current structure, the Ryan White CARE Act is simply unable to effectively reach these growing populations with appropriate funds for care and services. In addition, over the next five years, hundreds of thousands of additional people will need treatment and we need to enhance the Act's ability to absorb these new cases. We put forth our proposal in an effort to both maximize the use of dwindling federal dollars and to improve the targeting and delivery of HIV/AIDS care and services to those Americans most in need. Today, we applaud the government for its efforts to increase the Ryan White CARE Act's focus on medical care, reduce bureaucratic waste, and increase the program's outreach among underserved populations."

Last month, AHF released a statement in which it called for streamlining the Act to include only two "Titles" or categories (as opposed to the six categories that currently comprise it) and requiring that cities receiving Ryan White funding earmark a minimum of 65% of such funds for primary HIV medical care. AHF anticipates that, under this scheme, administrative costs would be greatly reduced (current law allows for each Title or category to spend a certain percentage on administrative costs, so with only two categories, such spending would be reduced and redirected to client care and services).

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

CONTACT: Tom Myers, General Counsel, +1-202-543-1106, or cell,+1-323-860-5259, or Ged Kenslea, Communications Director, +1-323-860-5225, orcell, +1-323-791-5526, both of AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Source: PRNewswire

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