05 May Winner of the 2022 Cesar Augusto Caceres Award for Technology in HIV Practice Creates Innovative Telehealth Program with Incarcerated Individuals
WASHINGTON, DC: The American Academy of HIV Medicine and the Institute for Technology in Health Care have awarded the 2022 Cesar Augusto Caceres Award for Technology in HIV Practice to Dr. Hillary Liss and Dr. Jennifer Jones-Vanderleest of Seattle, Washington. Drs. Liss and Jones-Vanderleest are being recognized for an innovative telemedicine partnership between the Madison Clinic, a Ryan White clinic at Harborview Medical Center/University of Washington in Seattle, WA, and Public Health-Seattle and King County Jail (KCJ) Health Services, found to improve care of incarcerated individuals with HIV.
Providing direct patient care since January 2019 via weekly telemedicine sessions, Drs. Liss and Jones-Vanderleest, situated at the Madison Clinic and the jail medical clinics respectively, collaboratively see incarcerated patients, often involving HIV case managers at both sites. This is paired with a weekly videoconference that brings together a multidisciplinary team of medical, public health, community low-barrier clinic, social work/release planner, and community-based organization representatives to assist with adherence, outreach, linkage/engagement/retention in care, and transitions to community or prison.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the Academy and ITHC,” said Drs. Jones-Vanderleest and Liss. “We are committed to developing creative approaches to better serve incarcerated people with HIV, and we look forward to collaborating with others who work with this vulnerable population.”
People with HIV are incarcerated at disproportionate rates in U.S. jails, with many missed opportunities for diagnosis, treatment, linkage to care, and help with transition to the community. Prior to the establishment of this program, incarcerated people who required specialty HIV care needed to be transported in the custody of jail officers to an outside facility which involved a number of challenges including: the stigma of being transported from jail, confidentiality concerns, short jail stays that precluded an opportunity to arrange and attend appointments, and the cost of patient transport and associated staffing, which limited the number of patients who could be brought to the outside clinic.
In its eleventh year, the Cesar Augusto Caceres Award for Technology in HIV Practice seeks to acknowledge those who have created, adapted and/or used innovative technology in their HIV practice and to share that technological knowledge with others in the practice of HIV medicine to improve patient care. The award honors the legacy of Dr. Cesar Caceres, founder of the Institute for Technology in Health Care.
Dr. Liss and Dr. Jones-Vanderleest will be hosting a live Academy webinar this summer to share their best practices and discuss program outcomes.
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About the American Academy of HIV Medicine: The American Academy of HIV Medicine is the nation’s leading independent organization of healthcare professionals dedicated to providing excellence in HIV care and prevention. Our membership of practitioners and credentialed providers manage the health of the majority of people with and at risk for HIV in the United States. The Academy’s mission is to ensure healthcare professionals have the resources needed to provide prevention, treatment and care for those living with or at risk for HIV and related conditions to achieve optimal health.
About ITHC
The Institute for Technology in Health Care (ITHC) encourages the use of technology in various fields to benefit health care. ITHC wishes to stimulate users, researchers, and students to present papers to groups of their peers, or write articles that demonstrate how they have used technology from any field to benefit the practices of medicine to improve health in any community. It is also interested in stimulating innovative projects that use technology from any field to benefit health.