March 15, 2012

Monitoring HIV Care to Improve Patients’ Outcomes

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy issued by the White House Office of National AIDS Policy along with provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aim to optimize health care and outcomes for the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS. Monitoring HIV Care in the United States: Indicators and Data Systems, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, identifies reliable ways to measure and track the impact of these policies on health outcomes for people with HIV/AIDS. It also discusses the balance necessary between protecting patients’ privacy and ensuring that appropriate health information is securely exchanged between clinical care and support programs that serve this population.