ECHO
Evaluation Center for HIV and Oral Health
ECHO was a 5-year multi-site evaluation and technical assistance center funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) – Division of HIV/AIDS Bureau – Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS). The Evaluation Center for HIV and Oral Health (ECHO) coordinated a national multi-site evaluation of innovative service models to increase access to oral health care for people who are HIV+, a population that often experience barriers to comprehensive oral health care. ECHO also provided technical assistance to the 15 funded sites on programmatic, clinical and evaluation topics. Evaluation results were published in a supplemental issue of Public Health Reports in June/May 2012. In addition to the evaluation and technical assistance center, 15 sites across the United States were funded to create innovative models of care to increase access to comprehensive oral health care for people living with HIV/AIDS.For more on this project, see also the website.
Project Impact
A total of 2,469 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) were enrolled in the multi-site evaluation of the 15 funded oral health interventions. A summary of the key study findings are presented in . One of the key findings was that PLWHA who received patient education were almost six times more likely to retain oral health care.