AIDS agencies have to look for ways to branch out if they want to survive and thrive under health care reform

Tammye Nash  |  Senior Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com

An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and 20 percent of them are not even aware of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And a CDC report released in early August suggests that there are about 50,000 new HIV infections each year.

And yet, federal funding for HIV/AIDS services have remained flat for the last five years — from funding for medical services to research dollars to money for support services — according to Raeline Nobles, executive director of AIDS Arms Inc.

And that means, Nobles and Resource Center Dallas Executive Director and CEO Cece Cox agreed this week, that the nonprofit, community-based organizations that have been the backbone have to look ahead and keep their options open to remain viable.

Changes in the way that federal funds through the Ryan White CARE Act are distributed — requiring that 75 cents of every Ryan White dollar be used for core medical services — give an edge to nonprofits that operate clinics. And that means that AIDS Arms, which just opened its second clinic last month — is “more competitive at the national, state and local levels,” Nobles said. “With the number of people who are uninsured and living at poverty levels, access to any kind of medical care is a priority. So if you are providing those kinds of services, it does give you an edge.”

Agencies that don’t provide those kinds of services, she added, can get in on that competitive edge by collaborating with those that do.

“There’s really no new money to sustain new agencies,” Nobles said. “AIDS is definitely off the docket in terms of diseases people seem to be concerned about. In fact, any HIV provider across the country who is not considering all their options is in a great deal of denial, and that may well come back to bite them rather severely.”

There’s also health care reform to consider, with several parts of the law passed in late 2010 still to be implemented. That reform, said Cox, is changing the face of community health clinics, like RCD’s Nelson-Tebedo Clinic, and HIV/AIDS service programs.

“Our nutrition program is a good example,” Cox said. “It has really been hammered in terms of federal funds, so we have focused on supporting the program through the community, foundations and corporations. … It is an amazing puzzle we have pieced together, even with cuts in traditional funding streams. But we have managed. We have done the things we felt we had to do.”

And there are more changes coming. Nobles said that if the Ryan White funds survive beyond 2013 when more health care reform measures go into effect, “it likely won’t include any money for outpatient services like we offer” at the Peabody Clinic and the new Trinity Clinic.

“So we have to take a look at what we do best, and we can use our model and globalize it into different areas. We have to become even more sustainable. Diversification of business is key to survival,” Nobles said. “It can’t just be about HIV and AIDS any more.”

Nobles said “serious discussion has been going on at AIDS Arms for at least two years, at the board and staff levels” about how the agency can expand its focus beyond HIV/AIDS and remain viable.

“We have to diversify our business plan. The situation has been serious for awhile and it is becoming even more serious for our board,” Nobles said. “We hope to have, by early 2012, a final business plan in place to move into the future.

“Health care reform is a great thing for a lot of people, but it poses real challenges for the nonprofit sector. You have to stay ahead of the curve, or health care reform will run right over you. We definitely want to stay ahead of that curve,” she continued. “The HIV nonprofit community has the best model of care and support the U.S. has ever seen. That model can be globalized to include care for other disease — heart disease, cancer, diabetes.”

Cox said that staff and board members at Resource Center Dallas also began planning for the changing future some time ago, and its current capital campaign to build a new facility is part of the plan.

“Nobody seems to have all the answers right now. The feds won’t say what they will and what they won’t fund. So savvy business people are already thinking, ‘If this funding goes away, what can we do instead?’” Cox said.

“Everybody feels like the challenge working in the nonprofit sector is that you are always aware there is so much more that needs to be done,” she added. “But doing more requires more space, more staff, more resources. And to have that, you have to build the business in a way that is sustainable. And you have to remember, nobody can do everything.”

Both Cox and Nobles are quick to remind that even though their agencies are “nonprofits,” they are businesses nonetheless, and have to be operated with an eye toward success.

“There has been, and probably still is, the mindset about nonprofits. People expect the nonprofits to be there to provide all these services without caring about costs,” Cox said. “But the fact is, nonprofit or not, these agencies have to be run like a business. You have to anticipate, plan ahead. You have to put the structures in place and you have to invest. We make large investments in our staff and in technology. For-profit business sell stock and they answer to their stockholders. We get our money from our donors, and we have an obligation to let our donors know what we do with their money and to let them know we use it responsibly.”

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 11, 2011.