The Piedmont HIV Integrated Community Access System (PHICAS) was begun in 2004 through a grant from the Healthy Communities Access Program (HCAP) of the US Health Resources Services Administration (contract G92CS02237-02-02) to increase access to care for people living with the co-morbidities of HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections and increasing prevention and screening services for people at risk of either of these infections in six counties surrounding Durham, North Carolina.  The six counties are Durham, Person, Granville, Franklin, Vance and Warren. 

PHICAS' five core components included in the initial initiative are:

• Clinical education and training,
• Community-based education and training,
• Identification of systemic barriers such as housing, transportation, emergency supports, lack of health care services,
• Providing service coordination and case management for HIV+, HCV+ and co-infected individuals,
• Implementing a consortium-wide integrated data management system using Provide®.

Key partners within the PHICAS network are Duke University Center for Health Policy's Health Inequalities Program (HIP), the Ryan White Title III Early Intervention Clinic of the Lincoln Community Health Center, the Durham County Health Department, Duke University Medical Center's Infectious Diseases Clinic, Duke University's Partners In Caring, and the Duke Addictions Program. 

In 2007, PHICAS was awarded a grant through the ConnectHIV program of the Pfizer Foundation, Inc. to implement an intensive "strengths-based" case management program for recently released HIV+ inmates.  The program uses Bridges to Good Health and Treatment, or BRIGHT, developed by David A. Wohl, MD at the Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.  This program extends BRIGHT to the six county PHICAS area including Durham, Person, Granville, Franklin, Warren, and Vance. 

PHICAS' parent organization, the Piedmont HIV Health Care Consortium plans, develops, and ensures the delivery of comprehensive, compassionate, community-wide health and supportive services for persons affected by HIV. The Consortium seeks to empower individuals and communities through connecting service providers, providing HIV educational opportunities, and funding of services in an eleven-county region including Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Lee, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake, and Warren counties.  The Consortium provides emergency and supportive services to over 1,000 people living with HIV through the Ryan White and HOPWA programs. Among the twenty services available are primary medical and dental care, case management, benefits advocacy, housing resource identification, and emergency financial assistance. The Consortium was founded in 1991.