Ryan White–Funded Facilities Improve Services and Outcomes for Poor Patients with HIV Infection

When the Ryan White CARE Act was enacted in 1990, HIV infection was uniformly fatal. Now, with appropriate management, HIV-infected people can enjoy long lives. But because HIV infection disproportionately affects individuals with less access to care, including racial/ethnic minorities, the poor, and the uninsured, many do not benefit from recent treatment gains. Using Medical Monitoring Project data, investigators evaluated the characteristics and outcomes of a probability sample of 8038 HIV patients in care in the U.S. in 2009 and 2011 and the 989 facilities serving them.

The 34% of facilities that were Ryan White–funded (RWF) provided care for 73% of all patients. These facilities were commonly publicly owned (e.g., community health cente…