HJNO Nov/Dec 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS  I  NOV / DEC 2023 53 Chénier Reynolds-Montz, MBA, MS Senior Vice President School Health & Strategic Media Access Health Louisiana the pandemic,” says Probst. “Through our community-based home-testing HIV pro- gram, we have found more individuals be- coming aware of the importance of testing, and the importance of obtaining test kits for friends and loved ones in their social networks. The accessibility offered by pro- viding home testing capabilities also helps with reducing the stigma around HIV. The most difficult part of home testing is en- suring that positive patients are properly connected to care.” Federally Qualified Health Centers like Access Health Louisiana are consistently striving to offer more inclusive environ- ments so that LGBTQ+ patients feel em- powered to take a more active role in their healthcare. It’s a step in the right direction according to Milo Malone, a New Orle- ans-based linkage to care coordinator for LGBTQ+ Services and Sexual Health at Ac- cess Health Louisiana. Most of their time is spent working with medical providers and educating them on how to prescribe gen- der-affirming hormone replacement ther- apy for trans and gender non-conforming (GNC) patients. “The more medical provid- ers available to provide services to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ patients, the more HIV-positive LGBTQ+ individuals will seek and continue care.” Malone suggests that to be inclusive, administrative changes must also take place. “Louisiana medical providers must also incorporate updates to their organi- zational Patient Rights and Responsibility policies to include gender identity/expres- sion in patient non-discrimination clauses. Simple changes go a long way in engaging this patient population.” Recognition programs such as the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation also offer public designations to healthcare organizations that provide LGBTQ+ com- petent care. To qualify for this special des- ignation, organizations are evaluated on their policies and practices, as well as pa- tient-centered care and support. Employer healthcare benefits must also include pro- visions for transgender employees. Orga- nizations are recognized in three specific tiers: Healthcare Equality Builder, Health- care Equality High Performer, and Health- care Equality Leader. Healthcare facilities and organizations that score and achieve the special designation receive a special HEI logo and outreach toolkit to promote to LGBTQ+ residents in their service area. To find out more about the program, con- tact hei@hrc.org . Through patient outreach, as well as in- ternal organizational changes, Louisiana healthcare organizations can do their part to ensure that HIV rates across the state decrease and health outcomes for HIV pa- tients improve for years to come. Contributors to this article include Stephanie Thompson, Pharm. D., Jordan Probst, and Milo Malone of Access Health Louisiana. n REFERENCES AIDSVu. “Local Data: Louisiana: Rates of Persons Living with HIV, 2021.” Accessed October 2023. https://aidsvu.org/local-data/united-states/ south/louisiana/ The Human Rights Campaign. (2022). “Health- care Equality Index 2022.” Accessed October 2023. https://www.hrc.org/resources/health- care-equality-index Louisiana Department of Health. “Louisiana HIV, AIDS, and Early Syphilis Surveillance.” Quarterly report vol. 20, no. 3 (Sept. 30, 2022). https://ldh. la.gov/assets/oph/HIVSTD/2022-reports/Third- Quarter-2022-HIV-Syphilis-Report_final.pdf MacGowan, R.J.; Chavez, P.R.; Borkowf, C.B.; et al. “Effect of Internet-Distributed HIV Self-tests on HIV Diagnosis and Behavioral Outcomes in Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Randomized Clinical Trial.”. JAMA Internal Medicine 180, no. 1 (Jan. 1, 2020): 117-125. Published correction appears in JAMA Internal Medicine 180, no. 8 (Aug. 1 2020): 1134. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.5222 programs, we are essentially reaffirming our commitment to providing compas- sionate and inclusive healthcare services.” Promoting prevention methods such as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is also key to building rapport with LGBTQ+ pa- tients. Jordan Probst, a New Orleans-based linkage to care coordinator for HIV Ser- vices at Access Health Louisiana, agrees. Through his years of work in HIV care, Probst acknowledges that community testing and self-testing are key to curbing the spread of HIV. His stance is also backed by research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) Evaluation of Rapid HIV Self-testing Among MSM (men who have sex with men) Project (eSTAMP) study. The results proved that sending free home test kits through the mail was more successful in engaging and motivating gay and bisexual men to test for HIV than those who only had access to web-based HIV prevention information. Another sig- nificant finding of the research was that nearly half of the men who had recently been diagnosed with HIV had not been tested the previous year. Similar programs have also proved suc- cessful in furthering community outreach programs and increasing HIV testing. CDC’s Together TakeMeHome project pro- vided 100,000 free HIV test kits in hopes of targeting Black and Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men, transgender wom- en, and Black cisgender women over an 18-month period beginning in 2021. The program successfully distributed FDA-ap- proved OraQuick, in-home HIV self-tests, through an online ordering portal. “Self-testing not only reduces barriers to care, but it alsooffers another avenue of ac- cessibility to private testing that many in- dividuals did not take advantage of during