Routine Testing Town Halls Inform AAC’s Ongoing Deliberations
This summer AAC’s Public Policy department held a series of town hall meetings in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Gloucester, and Brockton to discuss the feasibility of implementing routine testing for HIV in medical settings, such as a doctor’s office.
The intent of the meetings was to solicit feedback from the HIV/AIDS community regarding recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control recommendations in favor of routine testing in these settings. According to the CDC, the changes in their recommendations, which are nonbinding, were made in an effort to decrease the number of people who do not know their HIV status by making HIV testing a routine part of doctor and hospital visits.
We learned a great deal about what the community thinks about the CDC’s recommendations, from concerns to potential benefits:
3 Key Concerns
- General concern that funding may be diverted away from testing programs that target high-risk groups. Of particular concern is that some people within these groups do not receive traditional medical care on a regular basis, and therefore could be even less likely to get tested if resources are drained from targeted programs.
- Fear that elimination of written informed consent may lead to loss of transparency in the testing process and patient confidentiality.
- Medical staff will need significant training to increase their level of comfort with and proficiency in discussing HIV risk, how to offer a test, follow-up, and connecting patients to care.
3 Potential Benefits
- Testing everyone, regardless of risk or “identity” may help reduce stigma associated with HIV.
- Opportunity to raise awareness about HIV, especially with those individuals who don’t think of themselves as “at risk”.
- Routine testing may reduce rate of new infections.
AAC will develop its final position on routine testing in medical settings for the upcoming Joint Committee on Public Health Committee hearing at the Statehouse on October 6th. Stay tuned.
