DEPARTMENT: Health
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Collen M. Bridger, MPH, PhD
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Ratification of the submission of an application to and authorizing the acceptance of funds in the amount of $849,771.00 annually for a period of five years from the Department of State Health Services Ending the HIV Epidemic grant for a total of $4,248,855.00 and approving a personnel compliment of seven FTEs.
SUMMARY:
This ordinance ratifies the application to and authorizes the acceptance of funds from the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) grant to support the City of San Antonio’s HIV program. The project period for the award of $849,711.00 for the initial year will be upon execution of the contract with DSHS through July 31, 2021. Subsequent funding years will be annually from August 1, 2021 through July 31, 2025. There is no impact to the General Fund in the form of a cash match. The CFDA number for these funds is 93.940.
Furthermore, this ordinance authorizes the Director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District to initiate, negotiate, and execute any and all necessary documents and a grant contract to effectuate the acceptance of the referenced grant, and to execute contract amendments pertaining to this contract, to include a) carry-over funds, when ascertained and approved by the funding agency through a revised notice of award; b) line item budget revisions authorized by the funding agency; c) modifications to the performance measures authorized by the funding agency and listed in the contract so long as the terms of the amendment stay within the general parameters of the intent of the grant; d) no cost extensions; e) amendments which will provide supplemental grant funds to the grant by the funding agency in an amount up to 20% of the total amount awarded to the grant; f) reimbursement increases of administrative funds for each participant served; g) amendments funding one time equipment purchases or defined program services; and h) changes in regulations mandated by the funding agency.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
This ordinance will ratify the submission of an application to DSHS and authorize the acceptance of funds in the amount of $849,771.00 annually. The project period for the award of $849,711.00 for the initial year will be upon execution of the contract with DSHS through July 31, 2021. Subsequent funding years will be annually from August 1, 2021 through July 31, 2025.
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The purpose of this funding is to implement a comprehensive HIV program, that complements programs, such as the Ryan White program and other U.S. Department of Health and Human Services programs, designed to support ending the HIV epidemic in America by leveraging powerful data, tools and resources to reduce new HIV infections by 75% in five years. Funds will be used to: Diagnose Increased routine opt-out HIV screenings in healthcare and other institutional settings Increased local availability of and accessibility to HIV testing services Increased HIV screening and re-screening among persons at elevated risk for HIV Increased knowledge of HIV status (Intermediate Outcome) Reduced new HIV diagnoses (Intermediate Outcome) Treat Increased rapid linkage to HIV medical care Increased early initiation of ART Increased immediate re-engagement to HIV prevention and treatment services for PWH who have disengaged from care Increased receipt of HIV medical care among persons with HIV (Intermediate Outcome) Increased viral suppression among PWH (Intermediate Outcome) Prevent Increased screening for PrEP indications among HIV-negative clients Increased referral and rapid linkage of persons with indications for PrEP Increased access to SSPs Increased PrEP prescriptions among persons with indications for PrEP (Intermediate Outcome) Increased knowledge about the evidence-base of SSPs in communities (Intermediate Outcome) Increased quality of evidence based SSP service delivery (Intermediate Outcome) Respond Increased health department and community engagement for cluster detection and response Improved surveillance data for real-time cluster detection and response Improved policies and funding mechanisms to respond to and contain HIV clusters and outbreaks Improved response to HIV transmission clusters and outbreaks (Intermediate Outcome) |
Metro Health received notice on August 12, 2020 from DSHS that they had received an award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the Ending HIV Epidemic application that they submitted in April 2020. Metro Health had contributed to DSHS’ application as a partner at the time of the DSHS’ application and funding for Metro Health’s participation in the project was included in that application. Upon notice of their award, DSHS requested Metro Health to submit a budget by August 27, 2020 in the amount of $849,771.00 and advised Metro Health that funding is expected to continue for the project period of the DSHS award, through July 31, 2025. Because the time period to respond to CDC was short, Metro Health is asking Council to ratify the submission of the application and authorize the acceptance of funds and a personnel compliment of seven FTEs.
ISSUE:
Metro Health requests City Council ratify the submission of the application and authorize the acceptance of funds from DSHS upon award in the amount of $849,711.00 beginning upon execution of the contract through July 31, 2021 and to approve a personnel complement. Subsequent funding years will be annually from August 1, 2021 through July 31, 2025 to support the City’s HIV program.
ALTERNATIVES:
Without these funds, San Antonio will not be able to provide the services outlined in the DSHS contract to prevent HIV.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This ordinance ratifies the submission of an application for funds from the DSHS EHE grant in the amount of $849,711.00 annually and authorizes the acceptance of the funds, to support the City of San Antonio’s HIV program. The project period for the award will start upon execution of the contract with DSHS and will continue annually through July 31, 2025. There is no impact to the General Fund in the form of a cash match.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends City Council ratify the submission of the application to DSHS EHE grant, authorize the acceptance of funds of $849,711.00 annually, approve the personnel complement of seven FTEs and approve the execution of the grant documents.