HIV & Aging

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced the use of health care for many reasons: lockdowns and limited access, resource shortages, and fear of contagion. Avoiding or postponing medical care can result in higher levels of sickness and death among those with chronic disease, especially older adults. This may be especially true for people living with HIV, who may have considered it too risky to attend regular medical appointments or visit the pharmacy for refills of their antiretroviral medication.

The purpose of this study is to learn how the COVID-19 pandemic affected health care engagement among a clinical population of people living with HIV, particularly those with behavioral health problems, unstable housing, or transgender/gender-diverse identities. Brookdale is working with Amida Care, a Medicaid Special Needs Plan for people living with or at risk for HIV. This study has two parts.

• In the first part, we will measure changes in health care use from January 2018 to July 2022 by analyzing anonymous claims data from 3,252 members of the Amida Care managed care plan.
• In the second part, we will interview 40 Amida Care members to learn about any barriers they experienced that made it hard to stay engaged in care and adherent to their treatment regimen, as well as any facilitators of care engagement.

Findings from this study will help providers develop better ways to promote care engagement and treatment adherence for people living with HIV, including those facing particular challenges, during times of societal disruption as well as in normal times.

Dr. Mark Brennan-Ing, director of research and evaluation at Brookdale, and Dr. Jerome Ernst, chief medical officer at Amida Care, are the Co-Principal Investigators on this study.