CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Prompted by proposed changes to federal funding, Illinois will join 38 other states when it starts tracking HIV cases using patients' names in January. Currently, a person who tests HIV-positive in Illinois is assigned a code number when the case is reported to the state public-health system.
State officials expect that beginning in 2007 the federal government will add HIV data, and not AIDS cases alone, to its formula for apportioning money under the Ryan White Act, which funds services for low-income and uninsured patients. If the planned change happens, only states conforming to the Centers for Disease Control and Pevention's standard of names-based tracking would have their HIV cases counted.
About 29,500 Illinois residents are HIV-positive. If the state does not convert to names-based reporting, about 14,000 HIV patients who do not have an AIDS diagnosis would be excluded from the CDC's count. That means the state could lose several million dollars in funding if it does not report names, said Tom Hughes, a deputy director with the Illinois health department.
The 14,000 HIV cases in the state's current code-based system will not be counted in the new system until they visit a health care provider. David Munar, AIDS Foundation of Chicago's associate director and a member of the steering committee helping the state with the transition, said it will take time to build the database with numbers that may drive future federal funding.
Though Congress has yet to reauthorize the Ryan White Act, which expired in September, advocates are proposing revisions to it that would safeguard Illinois's funding during the transition from code- to names-based reporting. (AP)
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Kamala Harris rides wave of Democratic energy at kickoff event in Wisconsin
July 23 2024 3:36 PM
'Devastated:' A six-week abortion ban will go into effect in Iowa next week
July 23 2024 2:28 PM
Four hours, 44,000 Black women, and one Zoom call
July 23 2024 2:17 PM
Record 1.2 million people show out for Cologne’s Pride parade
July 23 2024 10:51 AM
Here's how far-right activist Leonard Leo helped fund Bud Light boycott
July 23 2024 10:27 AM
Elon Musk’s comments about his trans daughter prove why she doesn’t speak to him
July 23 2024 9:16 AM
Nancy Pelosi endorses Kamala Harris for president
July 22 2024 4:07 PM