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Boston University School of Public Health.
Making you the expert
Enhancing the skills of those who improve systems of care for vulnerable populations
Part of our mission at the Center for Advancing Health Policy and Practice at BU School of Public Health (CAHPP) is to advance the health and well-being of vulnerable populations. One way we do this is by sharing expertise that enhances the skills and knowledge of those who work to improve access to and quality of care for underserved communities.  We collaborate with partners to evaluate interventions, share our research findings in person and online, organize learning collaboratives, and create and disseminate training materials based on evidence-based interventions. 
Creating training materials to enhance your expertise 
Preparing organizations to implement models that support engagement in HIV care and treatment adherence
Building Blocks to Peer Success training curriculum.
For more than a decade, the CAHPP staff has worked with HIV care and service providers to design, implement and evaluate programs that integrate non-traditional providers such as peers, patient navigators, and community health workers into the primary health care team to engage underserved populations in HIV care.  This work has led to the creation of some of the most highly utilized resources on our website. Building Blocks to Peer Program Success: a Toolkit for Developing HIV Peer Programs and Building Blocks to Peer Success: A Toolkit for Training HIV-Positive Peers to Engage People Living with HIV/AIDS in Care are two products of the Peer Education and Evaluation Resource Center (PEER Center) project (2005-2011) that providers and consumers in more than 100 countries and in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico have turned to when creating or enhancing peer programs within their organizations.  

The Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) HIV Re-Engagement project
MAI peer training curriculum.
(2011-2014) built on these materials to create a five-day peer training curriculum titled Preparing Peers for Success / PrePARando Pares para el Éxito.  Most recently, the Dissemination and Evaluation Center (DEC) project (2015-present) designed four evidence-informed interventions and is studying the implementation of these interventions at 12 Ryan White medical provider sites across the U.S.  Results from this evaluation will be incorporated into a final redesign of the interventions, including best practices, and will be available for dissemination to the larger Health Resources and Systems Administration (HRSA) community in 2020. 
Supporting state programs to improve access to insurance coverage for children and youth with special health care needs
Medicaid and CHIP--What's the difference.
The Catalyst Center, a project of CAHPP, is the national center for health insurance and financing of care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). The staff has created materials to help state Title V and Medicaid programs and their partners identify opportunities to improve access to coverage for CYSHCN. These materials range from an infographic or quick fact sheets to a set of financing strategies, a multi-faceted tutorial, or policy workbook.  The Catalyst Center State Data Chartbook draws from a range of trusted sources and provides data on factors impacting coverage for CYSHCN that can be used to learn about the health care financing landscape in your state and to compare your state to another state, and the national average.  It also provides tips on how to use this data to make a case for coverage for children and youth with special health care needs. 
Other news of note
CAHPP awarded $6 million project using community health workers
CAHPP has received a $6 million grant to improve HIV care by increasing the integration of specially trained community health workers into medical teams that are part of the Ryan White medical care system. The project will draw on the knowledge and experience of community health workers to improve access to, and retention in, healthcare for people living with HIV. Funding is provided through a three-year cooperative agreement with the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA).
What does it take to create and implement an effective, family-centered plan of care for a child with special health care needs? Expert speakers will discuss their approaches to the process of care planning in two very different settings. This is the third webinar in a series on care coordination sponsored by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health (LPFCH) and the Catalyst Center.
CAHPP presentations from Ryan White conference now available
From August 23 - 26, CAHPP staff and partners participated in the 2016 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment in Washington DC. Program recipients such as direct HIV care providers and others involved in HIV care and treatment came together to learn the latest advances in HIV care. Presentation slides from three projects are now available on our website.
Visit our website at cahpp.org
Boston University.

Center for Advancing Health Policy
and Practice  at Boston University
School of Public Health