AIDS Action Committee’s Blog

Thanks to AIDS Action’s Public Policy All Stars, you probably already know that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently switched to names-based system for reporting new HIV cases. Between 1999 and 2006, Massachusetts reported on its HIV cases using unique identifier codes to maintain confidentiality. Starting January 1, 2007, health care professionals are required to report on the names of all people who test positive for HIV infection.

(To read more about this issue, and how it affects people living with HIV/AIDS and the organizations that serve them, check out Denise McWilliams’ written testimony opposing the adoption of names-based reporting in Massachusetts.)

Recently, it was reported that Vermont, Maryland and Hawaii, the last three states to track new HIV infections using unique identifier codes, will be switching to a system of names-based reporting by the end of 2007. Despite the real and continued concerns that names-based reports are vulnerable to security breaches and could discourage people from getting tested, the states are making this switch because beginning this fiscal year, federal funding via the Ryan White CARE Act is going to be tied to names-based reports of new HIV infections. States that don’t submit names-based reports risk a reduction in their allocation of CARE Act funding.

So that’s the old bad news. What’s the new bad news? This article on the switch mentions toward the end that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is considering using names-based HIV case reports to drive its funding allocation, proposing to Congress that this change take effect in the 2008 fiscal year. HUD’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing manages several programs that assist people living with HIV/AIDS, including Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA). AIDS Action Committee receives HOPWA funding to administer its Rental Assistance, Housing Advocacy and ROOF (Roofs Over Our Families) programs. Programs like these recognize that people living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to receive stable medical care if they have stable living situations and that housing is one of the main concerns of the population that we serve. Tying HOPWA funds to names-based reporting means that existing concerns of confidentiality and under-reporting could soon apply to this funding source as well, jeopardizing programs that link housing to health care.

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