HIV Specialist - March 2021 - 2

L ETTER FROM THE

DIRECTOR
Enhancing the Delivery of Care
PROVIDERS OF HIV CARE are used to adapting and navigating rapid changes in
clinical modalities, payer systems, patient needs and treatment advances - but
on the one year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic which brought about
significant changes to social and public health protocols, we have a clear look
at how entire health delivery systems had to almost immediately pivot and how
routine care and prevention had to be deftly re-imagined. Some of these changes
will have been transitional and temporal, but there is certainly, with the right
regulations, legislation and coordination, a positive future for telehealth in
terms of delivering care to and retaining those who may be harder to reach and
potentially reducing health disparities. The challenges of refining and de- and
re-regulating telehealth are outlined expertly in this issue of the HIV Specialist to
help us maintain and enhance those benefits seen by delivering " digital " care and
dodging some of the trickier challenges presented by this evolving platform for
healthcare delivery, even as the public health crisis begins to abate.

By BRUCE J. PACKETT II
Executive Director, AAHIVM

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MARCH 2021   HIVSPECIALIST  WWW.AAHIVM.ORG

While we've been remote for the past
year, the Academy, too, has strived to rethink
and virtualize many of its core offerings
to members, including its ongoing advocacy and policy work, medical education,
credentialing and networking. We recently
launched the " Be Part of Something Bigger "
membership campaign that really underscores the point that the Academy is the
HIV provider voice in DC, as we look to
coordinate with federal agencies engaged
in Ending the Epidemic, and help pass
important federal legislation, such as the
HELP Act. An all-new (2021) volume of the
Fundamentals of HIV Medicine comprehensive clinical textbook is forthcoming, with
pre-orders starting in mid-March and a May
1 targeted publication date. Also recently
updated is the Core Curriculum in HIV CME
activity hosted on the Academy's Provider
Education Center, along with a number of
other digital CME activities, including two
recent webinars, one on transgender HIV
care and another on medical mistrust.

While there's no discounting the sheer
scale of loss and deleterious effects of what
has amounted to a year-long (and counting)
crisis and worldwide shutdown, there has
still been plenty of innovation, advancements and friction-reducing refinements to
the healthcare system in the US as a result
of the challenges. It turns out that there may
be better and more efficient ways to deliver
HIV care and prevention services than how
we've traditionally viewed this realm, and
the payers of care are coming on board. Some
of these refinements of digital systems for
care delivery may be perfectly-timed as
the federal government gets serious about
ending HIV transmission by reaching those
disenfranchised communities and vulnerable populations. The entire concept of " the
clinic " is undergoing a significant reimagination as a result of our peril, and, as usual,
our members, experts and other providers in
HIV are leading the charge.
http://WWW.AAHIVM.ORG
HIV Specialist - March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of HIV Specialist - March 2021
