Connecting Care

The growing opioid crisis across the United States has resulted in an increase in new HIV diagnoses. For many people, receiving an HIV diagnosis is life-changing news, and a person’s circumstance can dictate how providers deliver the diagnosis as well as their approach to initiating HIV treatment, referred to as antiretroviral therapy, or ART. In this month’s episode, our hosts discuss considerations and best practices for delivering an HIV diagnosis and initiating ART; how COVID-19 has changed the way providers are able to deliver an HIV diagnosis; and how ART and ART initiation has changed over time. 

This month’s Connecting Care episode is the second in a two-part series about treatment for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) among people with opioid use disorder. In this second podcast, the Boston Medical Team takes a closer look at some of the challenges and opportunities related to treating HCV among people who inject drugs, and learn from Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, which has successfully delivered HCV treatment to patients experiencing homelessness.

This month’s Connecting Care episode is the first in a two-part series about treatment for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) among people with opioid use disorder. In this first podcast, the Boston Medical Team discusses new HCV treatment options, policy and cost considerations, and novel venues and approaches to deliver HCV treatment to people who inject drugs. 

We sometimes present these medications as - I mean I think I’ve used the word “miracle” already on this podcast - as you know, an easy cure and incredibly effective, and that is so true. AND it is also true that if people don’t have the other resources that they need to support themselves, to manage risk, to reduce harms, these medications will not have the impact that they could have.

-Dr. Jessica Taylor

This month’s Connecting Care episode continues the conversation about barriers to methadone treatment for patients, stigma, and what we can learn from other countries to advance policy and practice for methadone in the US. 

This month’s Connecting Care episode discusses the challenges associated with entering and staying in methadone treatment programs and opportunities to improve treatment experiences for all.

Hiawatha Collins is the community mobilization coordinator at the National Harm Reduction Coalition and the board chair for VOCAL-NY.

This month’s Connecting Care episode discusses the impact of structural racism at the intersection of HIV and OUD care and opportunities to think outside of the box to effect change. Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, an infectious disease physician who has dedicated her career to overcoming  racial and ethnic inequity experienced by people living with or at risk for HIV, joins infectious disease and addiction specialists from Boston Medical Center Drs. Alex Walley, Jessica Taylor, and Sim Kimmel. 

For Boston Health Care for the Homeless nurse Megan Sonderegger, providing client-centered care means literally meeting her clients where they are.

"To want to take PrEP, you have to have some hope for your future. If you have no hope and you don't have any idea that you're going to live past the next year, there's no reason to take Truvada. It just doesn't matter." -- Meagan Sonderegger, Healthcare for the Homeless

During this month’s episode of Connecting Care, Drs. Alex Walley, Jessica Taylor, and Sim Kimmel, HIV primary care doctor and addiction specialists, sit down with two clinicians from Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, who share their experiences on the front lines, delivering innovative substance use treatment, HIV prevention, and HIV treatment where patients are.

Approximately one in seven black women who inject drugs in the United States will go on to contract HIV in her lifetime. That compares to one in 26 women who inject drugs overall, and one in 42 men who inject drugs overall. 

There are so many factors that impact adherence and health outcomes. During this Connecting Care podcast, Drs. Alex Walley, Jessica Taylor, and Sim Kimmel discuss HIV prevention and treatment among people who inject drugs.

When people learn there's a pill that's been available for many years, that will keep them safe from HIV. They are surprised and may want to know more. And when people are surprised and even upset, we know we need to do more.

This month’s Connecting Care episode is the first of a two-part series about HIV prevention and care among people who inject drugs. Addiction specialists from Boston Medical Center, Drs. Alex Walley, Jessica Taylor, and Sim Kimmel, share a case study on the topic.

COVID-19 has changed the way society operates in countless ways. During our inaugural podcast, our team of addiction specialists and HIV providers, Drs. Alex Walley, Jessica Taylor and Sim Kimmel from Boston Medical Center, discuss how COVID-19 has not only increased vulnerability among our patient population, it has challenged them to innovate and safely provide services. 

Drs. Walley, Taylor, and Kimmell will discuss a case study that will illustrate the role for medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), such as buprenorphine and methadone,  in HIV prevention among people who inject drugs.They will also outline regulatory changes during the COVID-19 public health emergency that facilitated MOUD access to populations at high risk of HIV acquisition and other complications of substance use disorder. And they will describe barriers and facilitators of OUD and HIV care during the pandemic.