Wyoming caps enrollment in state AIDS programs

Due to rising costs, Wyoming's health department is capping enrollment in state-run AIDS treatment and drug assistance programs as of October 1, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reports. Health department HIV/AIDS coordinator Kurt Galbraith says that the state currently pays an average of $1,190 per month for each of the 87 enrollees in the state's drug assistance program and that allowing new HIV patients to enroll could cause the program to begin operating in the red. Capping the enrollment after September 30 will ensure that enough funds remain to operate the program through March 31. Patients already enrolled in the care and drug-assistance programs will continue to get services, Galbraith says, but some services, like mental health counseling and transportation assistance, will be eliminated. Patients will be referred to other sources for access to services cut or curtailed by the health department. Program enrollees placed on waiting lists will be referred to case managers to help them contact pharmaceutical companies for enrollment in their patient assistance programs that provide free anti-HIV drugs to those who can't get them elsewhere.