HIV Mobile Care Clinics Can Overcome Healthcare Barriers
Sonali Kulkarni, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director in the Division of HIV and STD Programs at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, recently sat down with Managed Healthcare Executive to explain the barriers within the traditional healthcare system for homeless HIV patients and the importance of mobile care clinics.
Aspects of traditional healthcare systems, such as scheduled appointments, can be barriers for homeless patients in need of HIV care, according to Sonali Kulkarni, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Director in the Division of HIV and STD Programs at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Examples of ways to engage this population outside of a traditional clinic are flexible clinic hours and financial incentives such as gift cards and transportation assistance to appointments. Street medicine is another powerful model of care.
Street medicine involves a team of healthcare professionals regularly visiting patients where they are staying to distribute treatment.
“A lot of these teams have to establish rapport, because many of the patients have had such negative experiences with the healthcare system, big systems of government or other kinds of services,” Kulkarni said in a video interview. “People do want to take care of themselves. They want to feel better. If you have uncontrolled HIV, you don't feel good and you're going to be much more sensitive to getting different infectious diseases and other complications.”
Sonali Kulkarni, M.D., M.P.H.
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