The Nassau-Suffolk HIV Health Services Planning Council

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administers the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and designated the Long Island region as an Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA). EMAs are metropolitan areas with at least 2,000 AIDS cases in the past five years and a population of at least 50,000. 

Realizing that each community has different service needs and gaps in care, Congress structured the Ryan White program to have five parts. The Long Island region receives a grant under Part A which provides medical and support services to cities and counties most affected by HIV. To determine how grant monies are spent and how they should be used to best meet the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS, the region must form a Planning Council.

The Nassau-Suffolk HIV Health Services Planning Council was formed in 1992 and is an all-volunteer member body appointed by the county in which each member resides. It consists of a wide array of community members; from those who work within the field to those who bring a personal perspective to the table as consumers of services. At least 33% of the membership consists of “unaligned” individuals (people who don’t work for one of the funded programs or who don’t have any conflicts of interest) who are HIV positive or who are a parent of or caregiver for a minor child who is HIV positive.

Responsibilities of the Planning Council include: setting funding priorities for the allocation of federal dollars; conducting consumer needs assessments to identify the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region; developing a comprehensive service plan for delivering HIV services; and evaluating how efficiently the providers of HIV services are selected and reimbursed through the administrative mechanism.

The majority of the work that is done by the Planning Council is accomplished through its standing and ad-hoc committees. All Planning Council meetings are open to the public and occur six times a year.