Community organizations that offer services in HIV prevention were caught off guard last week after learning state funding would be cut for organizations unaffiliated with metro health departments.
The Tennessee Department of Health sent a letter to grantees of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds Wednesday, which outlined changes in the state’s HIV prevention program set to take effect May 31, as the Commercial Appeal first reported.
Nonprofit Nashville Cares will be one of those hit hardest, as it receives around $315,000 per year in CDC funding, which is distributed through United Way of Greater Nashville. The money supports HIV testing for emergency room patients, community testing, support groups, condom distribution and services related to treatment drug PrEP. Amna Osman, CEO of Nashville Cares, told the Post that the emergency room testing will be hit hardest.
“These funds are not just standalone,” she said. “When people think about HIV prevention funding, it also impacts care and treatment. You can't think about the programs as separate. They're very intertwined.”
Osman said Nashville Cares is coming up with contingency plans while advocating for the state to reverse the decision.
When asked why the funding was cut, the Tennessee Department of Health told the Post and other media outlets that “it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the State to assume direct financial and managerial response for these services.”
The original letter to grantees said the goal is for new service contracts to be in place on June 1 and asks for patience and cooperation as “we seek to build on previous work with a different funding model for the HIV Prevention program.”
Ahead of the decision to drop federal funding statewide, TDH officials alerted Planned Parenthood in November that it would no longer receive HIV prevention grants starting in 2023 and the state’s HIV testing partnership with the organization would be terminated, the Associated Press reported. Planned Parenthood officials implied in a letter obtained by the AP that the state wanted to sever ties with the organization due to its history of offering abortion care unrelated to the HIV programs.
Metro Public Health Department’s funding will not be affected, however. Spokesperson Matthew Peters said the department has noticed increased demand for their PrEP program since December, around the time local organization Music City PrEP announced struggles with funding its services.
The state funding cut runs parallel to struggles Music City PrEP is facing with securing enough reimbursement dollars for its HIV prevention services through a different government HIV prevention program.
“We do have the capacity here,” Peters told the Post. “We’re always willing to help more people. If it was a case of the need continuing to grow, we would grow right alongside it.”
Neighborhood Health clinics will also continue providing HIV testing and PrEP. The nonprofit organization does not receive CDC funding and instead relies on fundraising and other grants.
“We view PrEP as an integral part of primary care — not a standalone service line,” Brian Haile, CEO of Neighborhood Health, told the Post.
Haile said he worries that Ryan White Part B funding, which it uses to provide treatment to uninsured patients with HIV, will be next to be cut.
Olivia Blake, founding board member for LGBTQ advocacy organization Inclusion Tennessee, said community-based services are important, especially for members of the LGBTQ community.
“This is just another attempt to target the LGBTQ community and target our networks of care that we’ve established over the years,” Blake said. “I think it’s important to highlight that this funding is not just going to affect queer people. It will affect all people, because HIV is not a gay disease. It’s something that affects everyone. These community care centers have been vital in curbing infection rates for everybody.”
