HIV patient numbers increase among PCPs
Primary care providers are increasingly caring for and treating people living with HIV, according to a recent survey by HealthHIV.
PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS are increasingly caring for and treating people living with HIV, according to a recent survey by HealthHIV, a nonprofit advocacy group.
HealthHIV surveyed nearly 1,200 primary care providers and HIV specialists. More than half (54%) of primary care respondents say they are treating HIV-positive patients and 43% said their HIV caseload has "increased" or "increased dramatically" during the past year.
The statistic doesn't come as a surprise to Sharon Lee, MD, a professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center and a primary care physician who has been treating HIV and AIDS patients for 25 years.
Like many aging patients, they're coping with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, and they're already in the primary care system for those other medical problems, she says.
