April 26, 2005

NYStateWatch: TALKING BACK TO TOM

[Download zip file of new NYSDOH HIV testing regulations released today]

Frieden	Novello

The New York State Department of Health and the AIDS Institute this week will issue a "2005 Guidance for HIV Tests" that will significantly streamline procedures for HIV testing, marking a new effort to encourage medical providers to make HIV testing a routine procedure. NYSDOH will also ask HIV providers to report CD4 and viral load counts for patients as well as instances of drug-resistant HIV, but will maintain current statutory protections against the release of individual, personal medical data.

State officials will unveil the new HIV testing regulations at today's meeting of the New York State AIDS Advisory Council, to be held at 90 Church Street at 10:30 A.M. and in a mass mailing to over 4000 HIV care and service providers across the state.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello is said to have demanded new guidelines to promote HIV testing and increase monitoring of HIV treatment without compromising doctor-patient confidentiality and federal health privacy protections. The new regulations will not require changes to state or federal statutes.

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden has called for major changes to state and federal health statutes in a quest to obtain government oversight of the health records of each person infected with HIV receiving care in New York City. Frieden has also called for significant changes in the laws that require individuals to give their consent for HIV testing; some who have talked to Frieden say he wants to move to an "opt-out" privacy form that would make no-consent HIV testing a default option for most New York City residents.

For the new state regulations, Novello worked with NYSDOH Infectious Disease chief Dr. Gus Birkhead and other top state health officials to come up with new testing rules that would respond to community calls for more and easier HIV testing and closer examination of HIV treatment gaps while ensuring strong privacy protections.

The new HIV testing forms will still require written informed consent, but will be easier to use, according to officials who developed them. And NYSDOH won't do individualized tracking of health results, opting instead for geographic and demographic mapping that will help pinpoint gaps in HIV health care (linked to race or gender, for example) without imposing "Big Brother" oversight of individual patient records.

Housing Works reporters will attend today's AIDS Advisory Council meeting and we'll be covering this story in detail as part of next weeks AIDS Issues Update.

The Housing Works AIDS Issues Update is reported, written and edited by Diana Scholl, David Thorpe, Christine Campbell, terri smith-caronia and Housing Works staff. Send your feedback, leads and story ideas to d.scholl@housingworks.org.

You can reach us by phone at 212-967-1500 x168, by fax at 212-868-4222, and by email at d.scholl@housingworks.org. Housing Works provides housing, advocacy and services to homeless people living with AIDS and HIV. Housing Works is the nation's largest community-based AIDS organization and the nation's largest minority-controlled AIDS organization.

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