Clinical Education Initiative HIV/HCV Center for Excellence: PrEParing New York State Medical Providers

In 2014, the Governor of New York announced his Plan to End AIDS. The third point of this plan emphasizes access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for high-risk persons. While there has been a great deal of interest and debate regarding PrEP, studies have illuminated gaps in medical provider knowledge and competence to provide PrEP. In order to improve acceptance and successful implementation of PrEP among medical providers, there is a need to develop and deliver tailored clinical education.  

The Center provides free HIV clinical education and resources for medical providers in New York. This session will highlight the Center’s initiatives regarding PrEP including a PrEP line, PrEP cards, PrEP conferences and trainings, technical assistance, and an online PrEP video.  Best practices and lessons learned will be shared and discussed.

The Center was launched on July 1, 2014. As of February 2015, the Center has distributed over 6,500 PrEP cards, hosted eleven PrEP conferences and trainings, produced a PrEP video, responded to 13 PrEP related calls, trained over 300 medical providers, and responded to requests for technical assistance. Evaluation data will become available late 2015.

The Center will continue to offer PrEP clinical education and resources to New York State (NYS) medical providers. Due to the diversity of medical providers and populations throughout NYS, the Center will conduct needs assessments to identify medical providers who may not have the capacity to provide PrEP to their patients and adapt its multifaceted training modalities to reflect this need.