Useful Resources

The Food and Drug Administration

For more detail about the drug approval process, visit the pages on the FDA Web site listed below. They include graphic flow-charts of various stages of the process:

• www.fda.gov/cder/handbook/ind.htm
  Describes the investigational new drug (IND) application process, which occurs before an experimental drug can begin clinical trials in people.

• www.fda.gov/cder/handbook/develop.htm
  Describes drug development from test tube, animal, and human studies through the FDA's review of a New Drug Application (NDA).

• www.fda.gov/cder/handbook/nda.htm
  Describes the process beginning with the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) through to the approval (or not) of an experimental drug for marketing.

The FDA offers a number of free email lists at this site: www.fda.gov/emaillist.html. Click on "FDA HIV/AIDS" to subscribe to the list that emails you information about HIV/AIDS-related products and issues, including approvals, label changes, safety warnings, and notices of upcoming public meetings.

Medicaid and Medicare

For detailed descriptions of Medicaid and Medicare, visit the Kaiser Family Foundation at www.kff.org. For state-specific information, go to www.statehealthfacts.org. You might also want to visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

• Medicaid: www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid

• Medicare: www.cms.hhs.gov/medicare

• Information about individual State Medicaid programs: www.cms.hhs.gov/states/default.asp

For help enrolling in your state's Medicaid program, go to your local AIDS service or other community-based organization. A benefits counselor can be extremely helpful with this process, since it usually requires quite a lot of paperwork. You can also call your State Department of Health to reach the appropriate department that can help you.

For more information on Medicare benefit advocacy, visit the HIV Medicine Association Web site at www.hivma.org. Go to "Advocacy" at the top of the page and click on "Medicare."

The HIV Medicare and Medicaid Working Group is made up of national and regional HIV/AIDS organizations. To participate, email Project Inform's Treatment Action Network at tan@projectinform.org or The Access Project at theaccessproject@aol.com.

The Ryan White CARE Act

For detailed information about the CARE Act, visit: http://hab.hrsa.gov/history.htm.

This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site has lots of information, including the history, funding, and populations served by the CARE Act over the years.

ADAP

For detailed information about ADAP, visit the National ADAP Monitoring Project at: www.atdn.org/access/adap/index.html.

For help enrolling in your state's ADAP, it might be best to go to your local AIDS service or other community-based organization. There isn't usually a lot of paperwork, but during a time of stress, having someone help you with it can be invaluable. You could also call your State Department of Health to reach the appropriate person or people who can help you. The following Web sites have information about each state ADAP:

• AIDS Treatment Data Network -- The Access Project
  www.atdn.org
  Includes comprehensive information about each state's ADAP, including contact information, eligibility criteria, and links.

• AIDS Treatment Activist Coalition (ATAC) -- Save ADAP
  www.atac-usa.org/adap.html
  Includes PDF files about each state's ADAP that are easy to download and information about how to get involved with Save ADAP, a national coalition of treatment activists, policy advocates, ADAP clients, and service providers to ensure adequate ADAP funding.

• ACRIA
  www.acria.org
  As an online addition to this issue of ACRIA Update, our Web site includes a list of the ADAP contact information for each state (click here).