Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, Part F: AIDS Education and Training Programs

Authorizing Legislation: Title XXVI, Section 2692(a) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

Program Description and Accomplishments
The AETCs––a network of 11 regional centers with more than 130 local performance sites and four national centers––offer specialized clinical education and consultation on HIV/AIDS transmission, treatment, and prevention to front-line healthcare providers, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, dentists and pharmacists. The clinical management of HIV/AIDS, particularly the use of highly-active antiretroviral therapy
(HAART) is the central focus of training. The AETCs target training to providers who serve minority populations, the homeless, rural communities, incarcerated persons, federally qualified community and migrant health centers, and Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program sites. AETC trained providers are more competent with regard to HIV issues and more willing to treat persons living with HIV than other primary care providers. The AETCs provide education in a variety of formats including skills building workshops, hands-on preceptorships and mini-residencies, on-site training and technical assistance. Clinical faculty also provides timely clinical consultation in person, or via the telephone or internet. Based in leading academic centers across the country, the AETCs use nationally recognized faculty and HIV researchers in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the education and training offered. The AETC program has provided an estimated 800,000 training interaction/sessions to HIV/AIDS providers, including more than 64,000 persons trained between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.

The AETC program provided training interventions to 44% racial/ethnic minorities in 2004. In FY 2005, the proportion of racial/ethnic minority health care providers participating in the AETC training interventions programs was 43% which met the target.

Program Assessment Rating Tool: The AETC program was included in the combined PART reassessment conducted in 2007 for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The Program received an Effective rating. See Summary of Request for more details.

Funding includes costs associated with grant reviews, processing of grants through the Grants Administration Tracking and Evaluation System (GATES) and HRSA’s electronic handbook, and follow-up performance reviews.

Funding History

Budget Request
The FY 2009 Request of $28,700,000 is $5,394,000 less than the FY 2008 Enacted level. This level will decrease the AETC Program’s level of services for health care providers. The AETCs are an important part of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and play a vital role in ensuring the highest quality of care among providers. HRSA will continue to prioritize for the AETCs interactive training that demonstrates effectiveness to change provider behavior. This request will help meet the program’s performance goal to, “Maintain the proportion of racial/ethnic minority health care providers participating in the AETC intervention programs”. The FY 2009 target for the proportion of racial/ethnic minority health care providers participating in AETC training interventions is set at 43%.