(1119) Pharmacy Interventions in Linkage-to-care Services for HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in a Federally Qualified Health Center

Objectives: In 2021, approximately 1.2 million people in the United States engaged in sexual or injection drug-use behaviors that increased their risk of acquiring HIV. About 30% of that population were prescribed HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis. Although there has been an improvement in PrEP prescribing rates at the national level, there remain areas of the country where there is a need for increased efforts to link patients to appropriate HIV prophylactic therapy.

By implementing a clinical service for pharmacists in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to assist in HIV PrEP linkage-to-care services, there is an opportunity to connect underserved patients to providers through outreach, patient education, and interprofessional clinical practice. The primary objective to be met by implementing this linkage-to-care service is to provide continuity of care for individuals reached through community engagement efforts and assist primary care providers in evaluating potential PrEP candidates.

Methods: Clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are integral to linking patients to HIV PrEP services. In this innovative practice model, potential patients will be linked to preventative services through outreach events and provider clinical consults. Following community outreach events organized by the FQHC, potential patients will be encouraged to contact a pharmacy technician serving as a patient navigator. Primary care providers seeking additional support when initiating PrEP therapy will be encouraged to consult clinical pharmacists. In both instances, patients and providers will be connected with a pharmacist who can assist in ensuring appropriate PrEP therapy services are initiated.

These PrEP therapy services include completing medical background evaluations, scheduling both initial and follow-up appointments, ensuring appropriate labs are collected, evaluating drug regimens for drug interactions, and connecting patients to financial assistance programs. To evaluate the success of this linkage-to-care service, a patient will be considered linked when they receive a prescription for HIV PrEP therapy. The benefit of this innovative service will be assessed by calculating the completion rates of patients engaged in the linkage-to-care process.

Results: Results of this innovative practice report will be available following the completion of data collection in January 2024.

Conclusions: The implementation and assessment of this linkage-to-care process will provide real-world data that can be used to develop similar models in rural FQHCs to increase the likelihood of PrEP prescribing. As more states expand pharmacists’ scope of practice to include the authority to prescribe PrEP, the role of clinical pharmacists in similar models could be adapted and further expanded. Ultimately, these efforts would lead to lower rates of HIV transmission and improve outcomes in vulnerable populations.