Since the inception of the Academy’s certification programs in 2002, thousands of HIV care providers have earned the HIV Specialist™ (AAHIVS) or HIV Expert™ (AAHIVE) designations.  Starting in 2011, HIV-specialized pharmacists can also now earn the HIV Pharmacist™ (AAHIVP) designation via a similar certification process; for more information click here.

The Academy's program is the only widely recognized, statistically sound and defensible measurement program available in HIV-focused medical care.  On average, about 2000 providers are actively maintaining an AAHIVM credential, a majority of which principally identify as an HIV provider.  In 2012, most of the US HIV-positive population is now under the care of an Academy-certified provider.  In 2013, most US HIV-positive patients are now under the care of an Academy-certified provider.

An Academy HIV Credential:

•    Communicates to patients, colleagues, employers, governments and third-party payers an up-to-date core knowledge HIV care.
•    Demonstrates support (on the part of the certified provider) of a uniform national standard for HIV care, and offers appropriate recognition of this highly technical sub-specialty. 
•    Protects the healthcare consumer by creating a publicly identifiable professional standard of HIV care, which is awarded by an objective, transparent process and can be readily identified by a provider’s AAHIVS, AAHIVE or AAHIVP titling.
•    Promotes professional visibility of providers working in HIV care.
•    May offer a competitive edge in employment (and an identifiable standard of expertise for healthcare employers).
•    Supports efforts to reform current reimbursement structures for specialized HIV care by creating a mechanism to determine the validity of expertise among a aggregate population of certified providers.

For information on becoming certified with AAHIVM, please click here or see the additional dropdown options above.