New PrEP Program expands access to care with a telehealth system that connects adolescents and young adults with trained sexual health providers.

Stanford Children's Health has launched a new chronic disease prevention virtual care program that utilizes telehealth strategies to provide comprehensive HIV-prevention services to patients up to the age of 25 in California.

The Stanford Medicine Virtual Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Program for Adolescents and Young Adults uses a secure telehealth system to connect patients with pediatric and adolescent care providers, called PrEP Navigators. PrEP Navigators are trained to provide sexual health counseling, labs, and medication adherence support for PrEP, a daily HIV prevention pill.

When taken correctly, PrEP is over 99 percent effective in preventing HIV. All patients who are at risk (or anticipated risk) for HIV infection are recommended to take PrEP.

In California, youth account for about 20 percent of new HIV diagnoses, however they have the lowest reported PrEP use when compared to older cohorts. Stanford Children's Health is the largest health care organization in the country that is working to address this care gap effecting young patients by specifically focusing on providing chronic disease prevention care through PrEP.

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