Thousands of Illinois HIV/AIDS patients, clinicians and other stakeholders breathed a collective sigh of relief July 16 when state officials announced that the Illinois Department of Public Health ( IDPH ) would not implement a waiting list for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program ( ADAP ) . IDPH officials had contemplated starting a wait list because severe budget woes threatened to put a strain on the program. Officials attributed the need to not implement a waiting period to a last-minute influx of state and federal money into the program.
Members of a state advisory panel on ADAP issues met to discuss the waiting period at the James R. Thompson Center. Members of the panel, which includes state and local officials, made clear that Illinois would not join the 12 other states that currently have ADAP waiting lists, a total that affects more than 2,000 HIV/AIDS patients nationwide. Illinois ADAP Director Jeffrey Maras said the implementation of a wait list was once thought to be "inevitable," but that the receipt of millions of dollars in ADAP-based supplemental and Ryan White CARE Act funding, along with budget-conscious administrative decisions, saved the state from having to usher in a waiting period for clients to receive antiretroviral drugs. Matt Charles of IDPH called the ADAP funding measures "a big win for everybody."
The advisory panel also discussed how to set up guidelines for easing access to ADAP based upon income; talked about the need to address program enrollees who never or rarely access their medication; and planned future discussions to deal with how to set up criteria for establishing a wait list should one become necessary in the future.
The panel will meet again in mid-September.
