Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part A HIV Emergency Relief Grant Program

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part A HIV Emergency Relief Grant Program is sponsored by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) - HIV/AIDS Bureau. Direct financial assistance to Eligible Metropolitan Areas (EMAs) severely affected by the HIV epidemic to develop, organize, and deliver comprehensive, community-based care and treatment services for low-income individuals with HIV.

This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Part A HIV Emergency Relief Grant Program. The purpose of this program is to provide direct financial assistance to an eligible metropolitan area (EMA) or a transitional grant area (TGA) that has been severely affected by the HIV epidemic.

Grant funds assist eligible jurisdictions to develop or enhance access to a comprehensive continuum of high quality, community-based care for people with HIV who are low-income through the provision of formula, supplemental, and Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) funds. RWHAP Part A recipients must provide comprehensive primary health care and support services throughout the entire designated geographic service area.

The goal is to provide optimal HIV care and treatment for people with HIV who are low-income, uninsured, and underserved, to improve their health outcomes. Your application must address the entire service area, as defined in Appendix B. Comprehensive HIV care consists of core medical services and support services that enable people with HIV to access and remain in HIV primary medical care to improve their medical outcomes.

Based on an annual assessment of the services and gaps in the HIV care continuum within a jurisdiction, HIV Planning Councils/Planning Bodies (PCs/PBs) and RWHAP recipients identify specific service categories to fund. Funded service categories should facilitate improvements at specific stages of the HIV care continuum.

RWHAP Part A EMAs and TGAs must use grant funds to support, further develop, and/or expand systems of care to meet the needs of people with HIV, who are low-income, within the EMA/TGA and strengthen strategies to reach disproportionately impacted subpopulations.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) requires EMAs/TGAs to collect and analyze data to identify needs, set priorities, make allocations, and validate the use of RWHAP funding. A comprehensive application should reflect on how you have used those data to develop and expand the system of care in EMA/TGA jurisdictions.

HRSA encourages innovation and collaboration with other agencies and organizations to maximize impact on health outcomes and effectively meet the needs of people with HIV within the EMA/TGA. Eligibility for RWHAP Part A grants is based in part on the number of confirmed AIDS cases within a statutorily specified “metropolitan area.

” The Secretary uses the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) census-based definitions of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in determining the geographic boundaries of a RWHAP metropolitan area. HHS utilizes the OMB geographic boundaries that were in effect when a jurisdiction was initially funded under RWHAP Part A. For all newly eligible areas, the boundaries are based on current OMB MSA boundary definitions.

RWHAP Part A recipients that are classified as an EMA or as a TGA and continue to meet the status as an eligible area as defined in the statute are eligible to apply for these funds.

For an EMA, this is more than 2,000 cases of AIDS reported and confirmed during the most recent five calendar years, and for a TGA, this is at least 1,000, but fewer than 2,000 cases of AIDS reported and confirmed during the most recent five calendar years for which such data are available.

In addition, for three consecutive years, recipients must not have fallen below both the required incidence levels already specified, and required prevalence levels (cumulative total of living cases of AIDS reported to and confirmed by the Director of CDC, as of December 31 of the most recent calendar year for which such data are available). For an EMA, the required prevalence is 3,000 living cases of AIDS.

For a TGA, the required prevalence is 1,500 or more living cases of AIDS. However, for a TGA with five percent or less of the total amount from grants awarded to the area under Part A unobligated, as of the end of the most recent FY, the required prevalence is at least 1,400 (and fewer than 1,500) living cases of AIDS.

This competition is open to eligible Part A jurisdictions to provide comprehensive primary health care and support services for people with HIV who are low income, uninsured, and underserved in their service areas as listed in Appendix B.