HIV and Aging Awareness Day was this week, which provided an opportunity to celebrate the resilience and advocacy of long-term HIV survivors, many of whom have been fighting for access to treatment and freedom from discrimination since the emergence of the virus in North America forty years ago. It is also a time to reflect on how our health care and social services infrastructure can continue to evolve to best meet the needs of older adults living with HIV and long-term survivors, many of whom face unique barriers to healthy, dignified aging.

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) shared updates from the aging services network in New York, Massachusetts, and Texas about partnerships between our networks, HIV service providers and state governments that are reaching people aging with HIV where they are, providing the tailored supports and services they need.

Below is the Massachusetts-based work shared by ACL:

Community Resource Initiative (CRI), formerly Community Research Initiative, began its work on behalf of Bay Staters living with HIV in 1990. A public health nonprofit, CRI provides support to over 7,500 clients living with or at risk for HIV each year through research, drug assistance, insurance support, and prevention services. It currently administers the state’s HIV Drug Assistance Program financed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health via the Health Resources and Services Administration Ryan White HIV/AIDS program funding.

In 2014, CRI recognized the need for enhanced insurance navigation assistance because clients are often eligible for multiple insurance and assistance programs, each with their own eligibility, enrollment, and coverage rules. People living with HIV rely on continuous coverage and reliable access to medication and medical providers in order to stay well and maintain undetectable viral loads. In collaboration with the state health department, CRI began the Benefits Resources Infectious Disease Guidance and Engagement (BRIDGE) team in 2014 to offer clients hands-on insurance navigation to ensure they get — and keep — comprehensive health coverage and avoid gaps in treatment and care.

BRIDGE team members are insurance experts, but they soon realized that Medicare questions were becoming more frequent, and complex eligibility and coverage rules required specialized training. Anne Callachan, the BRIDGE Team project manager, teamed up with her local State Health Insurance Assistance Program — called SHINE in Massachusetts — and became a certified SHINE counselor.

Callachan reports that becoming a certified SHINE counselor has made a significant impact on CRI’s ability to help clients navigate transitions to Medicare and troubleshoot frequent coverage-related issues that arise over the course of the year. Additionally, she notes that SHINE counselor training improved her Medicaid expertise and understanding of programs for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, which she has been able to share with a community of case managers. In turn, the more than 500 case managers that CRI works with are better able to anticipate and address Medicare and Medicaid-related problems for clients before they arise. Since Anne Callachan’s SHINE training and certification, three of her colleagues have been trained and certified as well, increasing CRI’s capacity to assist clients with Medicare enrollments.

While serving the nearly 1,800 clients currently enrolled in Medicare, the BRIDGE team has expanded its reach and become known across the community for their Medicare expertise. “Now, other organizations have begun actively referring clients approaching Medicare eligibility to us,” says Callachan.