HIV/AIDS patient migration in North-Central West Virginia.

INTRODUCTION

Many HIV/AIDS patients rely on the Ryan White CARE Act, a federally-funded program to cover the costs of their medical care. The dispersal of this funding is dependent on a complex algorithm, which factors in the number of people that test positive for HIV in each state. However, demographic and migration studies have suggested that HIV/AIDS patients in rural America are first diagnosed in urban areas and then later moved to more rural areas.

METHODS

The participant pool was identified from adult patients who have received care from the West Virginia University (WVU) Positive Health Clinic from January 1, 2004 to July 26, 2012 and knew the location where they had initially tested positive for HIV.

RESULTS

The place of initial HIV diagnosis could be determined for 398 out of 433 patients and fewer than half (48%) were initially diagnosed in West Virginia.

CONCLUSIONS

Because over half of the patients who are treated at WVU were initially tested outside of West Virginia, this could negatively impact the federal funding opportunities for our state through the Ryan White CARE Act using the current algorithm.