OBJECTIVES: To compare the total number of medication classes (TNMC) and the differences in medication classes between a physicians managed (MDM) vs pharmacists managed (PHM) state correctional HIV patients from July 2014 until September 2015. METHODS: The data was collected retrospectively utilizing administrative pharmacy claims during the study period. The MDM group and the PHM group were determined based on the availability of pharmacists at the correctional facilities. The HIV patients were distributed randomly based on the correctional system. The HIV population in each group was determined based on any antiretroviral medications from the claims data. The TNMC was calculated and the medication classes that HIV patients were receiving in the two groups were recorded. T-test, Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used for the statistical analysis between two groups. RESULTS: A total of 65 patients were in the MDM group and 864 patients were in PHM group. The TNMC that the HIV patients were on had no significant difference between the PHM and the MDM groups (6.77±256 vs 6.2±2.91, p=0.1268). The PHM group had significantly higher rates of HIV patients who were on antihyperlipidemics (p=0.0345), dermatologicals (p=0.0362), endocrine (p=0.0014) and gastrointestinal (p=0.0003) than the PHM group. PHM group had a higher rate of genitourinary medications than the MDM group (p=0.0378). CONCLUSIONS: The PHM HIV patients in correctional facilities were less likely to be on multiple medication classes than MDM.  Medications for chronic conditions and antibiotics were more common in the MDM group.  More analysis is needed to examine the differences between the groups to clearly articulate the role of the pharmacists versus the physicians in HIV management in the correctional facilities. In addition, it would be important to identify areas where pharmacists can have the greatest impact.