HRSA - $6.5 Million for New HIV/AIDS Oral Health Initiative

	U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA NEWS ROOM http://newsroom.hrsa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 1, 2006

CONTACT: HRSA PRESS OFFICE
301-443-3376

HRSA Awards $6.5 Million for New HIV/AIDS Oral Health Initiative

HRSA Administrator Betty Duke today announced a new grant program totaling more than $6.5 million to support innovative oral health care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Grants totaling $400,000 annually for up to five years will go to 15 demonstration sites that use novel approaches to provide oral health care to HIV-positive, underserved populations in urban and non-urban areas where oral health services are inadequate or do not exist. An additional $550,000 will fund an Evaluation and Support Center to help grantees evaluate their models locally as well as in a multi-site study.

“Oral health care is a top priority for HRSA ,” said Duke. "HRSA will continue to encourage all of our grantees – HIV/AIDS clinics, health centers, rural clinics and the rest – to include oral health care among the services they provide.”

The grants are funded under the Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program of the Ryan White CARE Act. The CARE Act legislation was enacted in 1990 to provide health care and services to low-income, underinsured individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and its HIV/AIDS Bureau administer CARE Act programs, which provide treatment and services to an estimated 531,000 individuals with HIV/AIDS and their families each year.

A key requirement of the SPNS Program is the ability to develop, evaluate and replicate innovative models of care around the country. Today's grantees must provide a plan for disseminating project findings to local HIV/AIDS policy bodies and nationally to wider CARE Act and other audiences working with HIV-positive individuals. Grantees are also expected to incorporate a local program evaluation plan.

HRSA administers other CARE Act programs that support oral health care for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Dental Reimbursement Program reimburses dental education programs for non-reimbursed costs incurred in providing care to HIV-positive individuals, and the Community-Based Dental Partnership Program supports access to oral health care and provider training in community settings.

For more information on CARE Act programs, visit http://hab.hrsa.gov/ . The FY 2006 Oral Health Initiative Awards are listed below.

FY 2006 Oral Health Initiative Awards

Evaluation and Support Center	City	State	Amount
Trustees of Boston University	Boston	Mass.	$550,000

*Organizations /Urban*	City	State	Amount
Native American Health Center, Inc	Oakland	Calif.	$400,000
Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center, Inc.	San Francisco	Calif.	$400,000
University of Miami School of Medicine	Coral Gables	Fla.	$400,000
Louisiana State Univ. Health Sciences Center	New Orleans	La.	$400,000
University of North Carolina	Chapel Hill	N.C.	$400,000
Montefiore Medical Center	Bronx	N.Y.	$400,000
St. Luke's Roosevelt Inst. for Health Sciences	Manhattan	N.Y.	$400,000

Organization/Non-Urban	City	State	Amount
Community Health Center, Inc.	Middletown	Conn.	$400,000
Harbor Health Services, Inc.	Dorchester	Mass.	$400,000
Lutheran Medical Center	Brooklyn	N.Y.	$400,000
HIV Alliance	Eugene	Ore.	$400,000
AIDS Care Group	Chester	Pa.	$400,000
Sandhills Medical Foundation, Inc	Jefferson	S.C.	$400,000
Special Health Resources of Texas	Longview	Texas	$400,000
AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin	Green Bay	Wis.	$400,000
		Total	$6,550,000