AIDS Healthcare Foundation Demands Chicago Health Department Stop Cuts to HIV/AIDS Care

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago, Department of Public Health (CDPH) over its handling of the administration and award of program funds under two of its 2026 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Requests for Proposals (RFP), which defunded many organizations including AHF that provide care and treatment to people living with HIV in the Chicagoland area. The cuts disenfranchise hundreds of Chicago patients and clients from accessing the medical care and services they need from their preferred and longtime providers. The lawsuit (Case #2026CH05264), which was filed yesterday, seeks to block these cuts from going into effect and re-do the process in a fair and transparent way.

AHF asserts that the Chicago Department of Health did not follow federal law and regulations requiring it to award program funds using documented procurement procedures consistent with state and local laws and that all procurements be conducted in a manner providing full and open competition.

“In practice, the Chicago Health Department’s existing procurement procedures for the Ryan White Program resulted in the arbitrary denial of AHF’s recent bids to provide care and services under the RFPs,” said Tom Myers, General Counsel for AHF. “The Department’s failure to exercise good administrative practices, failure to act with sound business judgment and failure to comply with federal regulations is compounded by its failure to produce records related to the RFPs under Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act, which AHF asserts is information necessary to determine whether the denial of AHF’s proposals for the RFPs were improper.”

Background on Chicago’s 2026 Ryan White RFP Funding Process

In late January, AHF and several other longtime Chicago area care providers learned that their Ryan White funding would not be renewed. AHF and its Chicago area affiliate organization CALOR teamed to host street protests and give testimony before the Chicago Department of Health’s HIV Planning Committee at an emergency public meeting on Friday, March 13 to oppose and halt planned grant funding cuts. The organizations’ actions were part of an effort to restore funding of AHF's HIV Primary Care Services and SSHC's Early Intervention Services (EIS), as well as to encourage the HIV Planning Committee to allocate leftover funds into these service categories.

Throughout 2021-2026, AHF and CALOR received $2.4 million in grants from the Chicago Department of Public Health to support HIV-related services in Chicago, or roughly $480,000/annually.

However, the Chicago Department of Public Health declined continuation of AHF’s funding for all HIV Primary Care and Early Intervention Services funding in this new 2026 grant cycle. These critical programs support some of Chicago's most underserved communities.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 3 million individuals across 50 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. In January 2025, AHF received the MLK, Jr. Social Justice Award, The King Center’s highest recognition for an organization leading work in the social justice arena. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.