referred to as a group as health care professionals, who care for PLWH or at high risk of HIV.  Training, education, and technical assistance will focus on developing the knowledge, skills, and behaviors of health care professionals within three competency areas: 1) Clinical Care; 2) Teamwork; and 3) Organization and Systems Management. Each Regional AETC will link experts in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of HIV disease to health care professionals and organizations that serve racial/ethnic minorities and other populations disproportionately affected by HIV.  Experts will be linked to these health care providers through tailored education, clinical consultation, and technical assistance in an effort to integrate high quality, comprehensive care for those living with or affected by HIV.  The overarching goal of the Regional AETCs is to improve the health outcomes of PLWH across the HIV care continuum. This funding opportunity announcement will support eight (8) regional centers tasked with serving all 50 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the six U.S. affiliated Pacific Jurisdictions. Program Goals The goals of the Regional AETCs are in alignment with the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS),[1] HIV Care Continuum Initiative,[2] the Affordable Care Act,[3] and the Minority AIDS Initiative.  The goals of the Regional AETCs are to: 1)   Increase the size and strengthen the skills of the current and novice HIV clinical workforce in the United States; 2)   Improve outcomes along the HIV Care Continuum, including diagnosis, linkage, retention and viral suppression, in alignment with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, through training and technical assistance; and 3)   Reduce HIV incidence by improving the achievement and maintenance of viral load suppression of PLWH. Program Requirements: Organizations funded under this program will be expected to keep their activities regional in scope, while also supporting the work of other Regional and National AETC programs. Successful applicants funded under this funding opportunity will be required to: 1)      Complete a comprehensive needs assessment of HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention-related training needs in collaboration with other Federal Training Center Collaborative partners in the first 10-month budget.  Recipients will be expected to collaborate with HRSA, Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Part A and B recipients in their region,  the AETC National Clinicians Consultation Center (NCCC) and the AETC National Evaluation Center (NEC) in the development of the needs assessment. 2)      Train and provide technical assistance to health care professionals, interprofessional health teams, and health care organizations on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV disease, including opportunistic infections and other co-morbidities including hepatitis, noninfectious diseases associated with HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and oral health that are consistent with the most recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Treatment Guidelines[4] and HRSA Guides for HIV/AIDS Clinical Care.[5]  This training should be provided to all clinics in the region, with a priority to those clinics and clinicians providing little or no HIV care. 3)      For established HIV care providers, Regional AETCs will be expected to focus their efforts on assisting providers with practice transformation to assist recipients to improve patient outcomes along the HIV care continuum by integrating principles of the patient-centered medical home model and integrated HIV care and behavioral health services.  This may include increased collaboration between the jurisdictional health department and the medical provider in use of data to target interventions to improve outcomes. 4)      Train the faculty of health professions schools, graduate departments, or other programs, to better equip them to teach their students to address the health care needs of PLWH through interprofessional education and collaborative practice.  Partner with accredited schools and graduate departments or programs of medicine, nursing, dentistry, public health, allied health, pharmacy, and/or behavioral health to develop or enhance curricula, utilizing interprofessional team-based learning, to train faculty and build capacity to prepare future health care professionals to provide for the health care needs of PLWH.  Particular attention will be given to minority-serving educational institutions.  5)      Identify and disseminate models of care and effective practices that improve patient outcomes in various clinical settings, including RWHAP-funded clinics, community health centers, rural health clinics, and other primary care sites caring for PLWH.  This includes dissemination of findings from the Special Projects of National Significance. 6)      Create and support partnerships with health care organizations providing direct patient care at the local level, particularly Federally Qualified Health Centers that are not providing HIV care or need assistance in increasing their capacity to provide existing care.  The purpose is to implement longitudinal relationships to transform clinical practice in alignment with the goals of the NHAS and as measured by progress along the HIV Care Continuum.  The expected outcomes are high functioning health care organizations providing high quality comprehensive, coordinated care and treatment for PLWH. 7)      Work collaboratively within the AETC Network, including the national components of the AETC Program (see Background for more information).  Collaborations should include, but are not limited to, the development of joint curricula, joint needs assessments, national evaluation tools, joint training, and marketing.  Participate as subject matter experts in curriculum development, as convened by the AETC National Coordinating Resource Center funded under a separate funding opportunity announcement (HRSA-15-033). Staffing It is expected that the applicant demonstrate capacity to fiscally manage a federally funded training program, including the capacity to develop a standardized method to manage and monitor contracts and subcontracts. At a minimum, applicants should have the following staff with experience and skills listed below: ·    Project Director: This individual should have the experience and ability to manage a federal grant award, provide oversight and direction to the grant program’s activities, and ensure that the day-to-day operations of the regional AETC are conducted well.  S/He should have prior experience with HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs. ·    Clinical Director: This individual should have experience caring for people living with HIV, including prescribing antiretroviral therapy, and also with provider training.  S/He should be able to develop and review training content. Each Regional Partner is expected to have a Regional Partner Director.  This individual should have the ability to manage receipt of funds from a federally funded grant award and should be involved, as requested, in activities planned by the Regional AETC Central Office.  This individual should have prior experience in networking with service providers in the region, in order to form partnerships (if awarded). Ideally, the applicant’s personnel and faculty should also reflect the diversity of health professions, including the gender and racial/ethnicities existing among both trainees and patients in the training service area. Target Audience The primary target audience for training funded by the Regional AETCs includes health care providers who care for PLWH and for people who are at high risk of HIV.  These providers may not necessarily be HIV experts.  Other target audiences include allied health professionals (medical case managers, social workers, and others) who assist PLWH to adhere to treatment recommendations; learn about and practice secondary prevention; and receive appropriate social support and other health service interventions and referrals. [1] Office of National AIDS Policy. National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States.  The White House, ONAP, July 2010. Available from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/NHAS.pdf.   [2] The White House, Office of the Press Secretary.  Executive Order – HIV Care Continuum Initiative.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/15/executive-order-hiv-care-continuum-initiative, accessed September 26, 2014. [3] Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, 111th Congress, H.R. 3590 (2010).  http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ148/content-detail.html, accessed September 26, 2014. [4] HHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents. Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-infected Adults and Adolescents. Department of Health and Human Services. Available from: http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/contentfiles/AdultandAdolescentGL.pdf [5] AIDSInfo. Clinical Guidelines Portal. Available from: http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/guidelines. Additional information about this legislative requirement can be found on the HRSA/HAB website: http://hab.hrsa.gov/abouthab/legislation.html.  HRSA HAB Clinical Care Guidelines/Protocols,  http://hab.hrsa.gov/deliverhivaidscare/clinicalguidelines.html, accessed September 26, 2014.