"A Welcome Crisis For New York AIDS Clinics" - Dan Goldberg
AIDS clinics across New York are facing a heartening dilemma. Thanks to recent advances in the treatment of patients with HIV, demand for the clinics’ services has dropped dramatically, with patients now visiting three or four times a year instead of six or eight. That drop in demand, along with recent changes to the state’s Medicaid program that further disrupted what had been a steady source of revenue, is forcing the clinics to branch out, or go under. Antonio Urbina, MD, associate professor of medicine, infectious disease, and medical director for the institute for advanced medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said that for some of his patients with HIV, it isn’t their most pressing health issue anymore. He gave as an example an 87 year old HIV- positive patient who presented with diabetes, cardiac issues and an enlarged prostate. “HIV is number 4 or 5 on my problem list,” Dr. Urbina said. “As HIV becomes more a chronic management disease, the role the clinics play is more primary care.”
- Antonio Urbina, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine, Infectious Disease, Medical Director, Institute for Advanced Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai