January/February 2013

Wisconsin and ARCW Receive Federal Approval for AIDS/HIV Medical Home Model of Care

MADISON – The Department of Health Services and AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) announced the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has given final approval for the Wisconsin Health Home for Individuals with AIDS/HIV. The action by CMS is the culmination of more than four years of work in securing approval for the specialized health care system.

“We brought together staff with expertise in mental health and substance abuse, public health, and Medicaid to develop this benefit. We collaborated with the largest single provider of services to individuals diagnosed with AIDS/HIV, ARCW, to ensure that care is coordinated to ensure cost effectiveness while improving the overall quality of care,” said Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades. “This is a great example of what can happen when we work together with the focus of helping people live better lives.”

“ARCW has developed an innovative HIV Medical Home that is a national model for caring for HIV patients,” said ARCW President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Gifford.  “The approval by CMS of our model of care is an endorsement of the effective care that we offer to HIV patients throughout Wisconsin and sets the stage to assure that everyone with HIV receives excellent and comprehensive care.”

Medical homes offer patients individualized, patient centered and coordinated health care that accomplishes the goals of saving costs across the health care system - typically by avoiding duplicative or unnecessary care and treatment - and enhancing patient health care outcomes by making sure patients receive the right care, at the right time.  In support of these important goals, the ARCW HIV Medical Home is eligible to receive additional Medicaid reimbursement rates provided it meets a strict set of requirements outlined in Wisconsin Statutes.

“At ARCW, our patients have access to medical, dental, mental health and pharmacy services that are delivered in a coordinated fashion and supported by housing, food, legal and case management services,” Gifford said.  “Combined, our model of care is identifying the most pressing health and socio-economic needs of our patients and overcoming them, leading to health care outcomes that are among the best in the nation for HIV patients.”

Today, 76% of ARCW patients on HIV medications have an undetectable viral load, meaning the patients are managing their HIV as effectively and successfully as possible.  Unfortunately, only about 25% of the more than one million HIV patients in the United States are achieving this success.

“In securing federal approval for this innovation in care, Wisconsin has once again put people with HIV before politics.  We are deeply grateful for the Walker Administration’s leadership to secure federal support for this important HIV public policy based on legislation originally approved unanimously by the Wisconsin State Legislature,” said Gifford.     

Medical homes are a key part of the Department of Health Services’ overall goal of changing Medicaid’s service delivery and reimbursement structure from a volume based system to one based on value and health outcomes.  The Benefit is available to eligible members who are enrolled in the BadgerCare Plus Standard Plan, BadgerCare Plus Benchmark Plan, BadgerCare Plus Core Plan or Wisconsin Medicaid.

Have You Included ARCW In Your Financial Planning?

Ally William F. Reinicker has and he challenges you to do the same by March 15th. Join the Match By March Challenge.

If you have included ARCW in your will or as a beneficiary in a trust, retirement plan or insurance policy, now is the time to let ARCW know. For every donor notifying ARCW that it is named in their will or as a beneficiary of their life insurance policy, trust vehicle or 401K plan, a $1,000 gift will be made to ARCW from longtime ally William F. Reinicker. The challenge grant was announced by Dan Mueller, ARCW Vice President and Chief Development Officer on November 15, National Philanthropy Day.

To date five donors have participated in this challenge, leveraging a $5,000 donation to ARCW.

“Patients with HIV live longer in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the country. With this knowledge and with the fact that we still hope for a cure, we need to encourage donors to think about their estate planning as a way to make personal choices that will protect their interests and assure the strength of ARCW in the fight against AIDS into the future,” Mueller said.

To qualify for this challenge grant, donors are asked to submit the Choose To Inform confirmation form along with a copy of their estate plan naming ARCW as a beneficiary. If donors wish, they need only include the portion of the plan that names ARCW. The deadline for the challenge grant is March 15, 2013.

ARCW is working with attorney Bradley Kalscheur to promote gift planning to ARCW. Kalscheur, a partner in the Wealth Planning Services practice group at Michael Best & Friedrich is a volunteer for ARCW. Together he and Mueller intend to raise the profile of the effectiveness of gift planning for the both the donor and ARCW.

“Many people think it is complicated and expensive to work with an attorney on an estate plan,” Kalscheur said. "But at upcoming seminars, we will be educating ARCW donors, including same sex couples, to learn how their estate plans can help them make personal choices, like reducing estate taxes and making charitable gifts.”

William Reinicker is allocating this challenge grant in memory of Norma Reinicker Reilly, his beloved sister who passed away March 15, 2012. Like her brother, Norma was a Red Ribbon Patron of ARCW (a donor whose cumulative giving reaches a minimum of $10,000). Both William and Norma were honored as ARCW Philanthropists of the Year in 2001. Norma also included ARCW generously in her trust.

Donors who meet this challenge will be recognized at a private reception this summer.

To Submit By Mail:
ARCW
Attn: Dan Mueller
820 N. Plankinton Avenue
Milwaukee, WI  53203

To Submit By Fax:
Send to 414-273-2357
Please send to the Attention of: Dan Mueller

To Submit By Email
Email: dan.mueller@arcw.org

New Website Goes Live

ARCW leadership explain care, encourage support through videos

The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin has a new website designed to better serve donors, its patients as well as the general public. The new site can be found at www.arcw.org. Byte Studios of Milwaukee created the design for the new site and videos interviewing key staff were produced with in-kind support from Arketype, Inc. of Green Bay. The videos provide an extra window into ARCW.

• ARCW President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Gifford welcomes people to the new website.

• Vice President and Chief Development Officer Dan Mueller encourages financial support of ARCW.

• Medical Director John Fangman, M.D. talks about providing care at the ARCW Medical Center.

Visitors to the site have the ability to make secure online donations, examine agency annual reports and financial statements, and better see how their investments are changing the lives of people with HIV through patient testimonials. The site also features convenient links to our new Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr social media pages.

Patients will also find the new website provides them with more information about ARCW programs and services as well as the opportunity to request health care and social service appointments.  Additionally, people at-risk for HIV are able to learn more about protecting themselves from HIV and request HIV tests.

Prior to the new website an average of 150 visitors accessed the website daily. More than 2,000 visits were recorded to our new website the day it launched.  Stay tuned to Allies for the premier of additional videos launched throughout the year.

Save the Date: Make A Promise is Saturday, April 27, 2013

27th Annual event to be held at Potawatomi

The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin is pleased to announce that the 2013 Make A Promise Gala and Auction will be held at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee on April 27, 2013. From complimentary valet parking for guests, to a new state-of-the-art ballroom and Expo Center, this year’s event promises to continue the ARCW tradition of hosting fabulous parties for the fight against AIDS.

“We are excited to be working with our long time ally in the fight against HIV,” said Mary Hartwig, ARCW Director of Special Events.  “With their new Expo Center our guests will experience the cuisine, comfort and professional service of our friends at Potawatomi.”

The Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation has been a donor to ARCW since 1995 and Potawatomi Catering and restaurants have been popular with participants at the ARCW Holiday event, Jolly Holly Folly.

Additional details and award honorees for this much-anticipated event will be announced soon via a mailed invitation, email and at www.arcw.org.

Last year’s event Going Gaga at Make A Promise broke revenue history raising $264,803 from an unprecedented 1,000 attendees. Ticket prices for this year’s event will remain at $85, $125 and $200 or $850, $1,250 or $2,000 for a table of ten. Interested in being a table captain? Call Kristin Wollenberg at 414-225-1570 to reserve your table today. Watch your email and mailbox for complete details soon.

KAPCO Brings Christmas to 200 Children Affected by AIDS

Businesses usually turn to KAPCO, Inc. in Grafton, Wisconsin for metal stamping. But when funding was recently lost that would have provided support for the annual ARCW Christmas gift program for children confronting HIV/AIDS, KAPCO manufactured a Holiday Season for ARCW clients and their children to remember.

The decorations may be down, but the glow of a wonderful Holiday Season is still with us as patients of the ARCW Medical Center share their enthusiasm for the 2012 ARCW Holiday Gift Program.  This program ensures  children whose care giver is confronting HIV/AIDS has a gift to open at Christmastime. With longtime funders not able to sustain support any longer, this much-anticipated program might have been eliminated were it not for KAPCO, Inc. and its Kids2Kids gift collection initiative.

“Our Kids2Kids Christmas program is a way to engage children in philanthropy starting at a young age,” said Neil Willenson, KAPCO’s Vice President of Community Relations. “How it works is that parents go shopping with their kids for a new toy that will be dropped off at collection sites around town and donated to a child in need. We augment those donations with some fund raising events and toy drives and then work to get them to children in need. All told, over 20,000 new toys were collected through Kids2Kids Christmas and it is an honor partnering with ARCW to bring joy to hundreds of children this past holiday season.”

With 94% of ARCW patients living below the Federal poverty level, Christmas shopping for the kids is not an option.   But with KAPCO’s help, ARCW patients and clients were able to submit the age and interests of their children to ARCW and KAPCO resulting in 200 children affected by HIV/AIDS having a gift to unwrap at Christmas.

Megan Corey, Associate Director of Social Services at ARCW, led the effort to get the gifts wrapped and distributed.

“This year a single father touched my heart the most,” Megan said. “Not only was he stressed out about how he was going to find gifts for his four girls, he had no idea what to get them. He was so relieved and overjoyed when we let him know we had four gifts of popular toys for his girls. He couldn’t express his gratitude enough.”

“It is our pleasure supporting ARCW with their noble work through the contribution of brand new toys from our Kids2Kids Christmas program. Upon opening their gifts, we hope hundreds of children were filled with joy this Christmas season,” Willenson concluded.

A Jolly Holly Evening

17th Annual event raises more than $42,000 for ARCW

From mouth-watering dishes to delicious desserts, Jolly Holly Folly served up something special at the InterContinental Milwaukee on December 12.  Nearly 30 Milwaukee-area restaurants participated, preparing signature tastings for more than 400 guests.

An exclusive performance of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility by the Milwaukee Rep followed the tasting, making Jolly Holly Folly a truly unique event raising a total of $42,848 for HIV prevention, care and treatment programs at ARCW. 

Thank you to all who joined us in December and a special thank you to our sponsors, MillerCoors, Avita Drugs Pharmacy, Barefoot Wine and Bubbly, the ARCW Pharmacy, Marcus Hotels and Resorts, The Milwaukee Rep, Graphicolor, Sign-A-Rama and InterPark.

Photos courtesy of Scott Lone.