Despite national guidelines, private insurers, ER, federal and state agencies fail to routinely te... (e 50 to 100 out of 5000 ERs nationwide r...)

Despite national guidelines, private insurers, ER, federal and state agencies fail to routinely test for HIV

Date:11/20/2008

e 50 to 100 out of 5,000 ERs nationwide routinely testing for HIV, according to Dr. Richard Rothman at the Johns Hopkins University Department of Emergency Medicine.

It is not only ER patients, which include large numbers of uninsured, but also those with full medical coverage from private insurance companies who are not getting tested, according to several studies. One study found that only 4.9 percent of plan members with a serious illness suggestive of AIDS were tested for HIV. The results came from a review of insurance claims for eight health plans in 2006, with a total of 7.8 million insured individuals.

A related study found that just 36 percent of members seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseasesa high-risk groupwere tested. A third study found that although drug treatment can prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, up to 41 percent of pregnant women were not tested for HIV, with rates varying by insurance plan.

And, although the prevalence of HIV among prison inmates is more than two and a half times that of the general U.S. population, most state and federal correctional facilities do not routinely test for HIV, instead testing based on perceived risk.

Veterans also have extremely high HIV prevalence. Existing VA regulations require written informed consent and documented pre- and post-test counselling. A recent nationwide study of VA hospitals showed that under these regulations, fewer than 10 percent of inpatients and fewer than 5 percent of outpatients were tested during the year ending Sept. 30, 2006.

But VA's testing regulations will soon change, according to Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, head of the Public Health Strategic Health Care Group at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In October, President Bush signed a law that lays the basis for the VA to revise its regulations, thereby eliminating outdated HIV testing signature consent requirements, and the VA is working to revise its inter
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Contact: Katy Lenard
klenard@burnesscommunications.com
202-494-2584
Forum for Collaborative HIV Research
Source:Eurekalert

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