ACP receives BMY grant for HIV workforce capacity building initiative

Mar 15 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced the awarding of a Positive Charge grant to the American College of Physicians (ACP) Foundation to support ACP Foundation's HIV workforce capacity building initiative. ACP Foundation's initiative will address the U.S. HIV medical workforce shortage and will increase healthcare capacity building and skills transfer support programs to help benefit people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) in areas of high unmet need. The Positive Charge grant to ACP Foundation totals $2.93 million over three years and is the second major Bristol-Myers Squibb Positive Charge grant focused on expanding access to HIV care and treatment in the U.S.

Studies have shown that HIV patients managed by an experienced HIV healthcare provider have better outcomes and receive more cost-effective care. While the number of people with HIV in the U.S. continues to grow, with an estimated 56,000 new HIV infections occurring in each year, the HIV medical workforce is shrinking. The current HIV physician workforce is composed largely of the first generation of HIV medical providers who entered the field more than 20 years ago and are now retiring or leaving the field without sufficient numbers of new providers to replace them. The shortage in the HIV medical workforce is identified by several physician groups and government agencies, including the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM), the HIV Medical Association (HIVMA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

With the Positive Charge grant, the ACP Foundation plans to address these issues through a mentoring program pairing HIV experts with primary care clinicians in areas with high HIV prevalence and few HIV experts. ACP Foundation recruited individuals from associations, patient advocacy groups, and government with the expertise and interest in expanding the HIV workforce to form a National HIV Workforce Expansion Steering Committee to advise on the design and implementation of the initiative.

ACP Foundation selected Dr. Donna Sweet, MD, AAHIVS, MACP, as the chair of the National HIV Workforce Expansion Steering Committee. Dr. Sweet is Professor of Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and Immediate Past Chair of the ACP Foundation and Chair-Elect of the Foundation's Programs Committee.

"The complexity of HIV care mandates that we have HIV experts to provide care and education to people living with HIV and AIDS, but there is a growing shortage of HIV experts," said Dr. Donna Sweet, MD, AAHIVS, MACP. "With this generous Positive Charge grant provided by Bristol-Myers Squibb, the ACP Foundation is launching this important initiative to address the HIV medical workforce shortage, adding to the incredibly talented, experienced, and dedicated professionals that currently provide the complex care required by people who are living with HIV. This is an important step forward in increasing access to specialist care and improving outcomes for people living with HIV and AIDS in the U.S."

"For more than two decades Bristol-Myers Squibb has been committed to discovering, developing and delivering medicines to treat HIV/AIDS, but we know that medicines alone cannot solve the problem," said Raymond Sacchetti, senior vice president, U.S. Virology, Bristol-Myers Squibb. "Our hope is that this Positive Charge grant to the American College of Physicians Foundation can deliver innovative and meaningful contributions to HIV care in the U.S. and truly impact the course of the HIV epidemic in this country."