Medication lockers help Miami’s homeless living with HIV

Homeless people living with HIV in Miami now have secure locations where they can store their expensive medications. Through the IDEA Exchange, patients can store their medicine in lockers at a converted shipping container office in Miami. They also can choose to have social workers deliver small quantities of medicine to them.

The program is run by the University of Miami. Prescriptions are paid for by Medicaid or a federal drug assistance program for low-income people living with HIV. Storing medication for the homeless has long been encouraged by public health experts. Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, and other cities offer similar services. University of Miami physician Hansel Tookes directs the Miami program. Tookes says the initiative began in 2018 after an HIV outbreak among the city’s homeless.