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Effective July 1, 2008, Maryland law has modified the HIV testing process in the areas of:
For more detailed description, please view the
PRACTICE ADVISORY FOR HIV TESTING PROCESS IN MARYLAND
It is important to note that although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued guidelines on HIV testing in healthcare settings, those recommendations do not supersede Maryland law and regulations. If there is any incongruence between CDC's recommendations and Maryland law, State law must be followed.
Please visit the Maryland AIDS Administration's Website for more information on the Legislation.
The Maryland HIV/AIDS Reporting Act passed by the General Assembly enacts the following five changes:
Physicians and health care institutions are now obligated to report all HIV and AIDS cases by name to the health department. Only complete cases, reported by name, will be counted for federal funding of local HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs. Providers are strongly encouraged to inform their patients about the changes to the reporting law, and consent must be obtained prior to HIV testing.
The morbidity reporting form used by physicians, healthcare institutions, and other services providers to report all communicable diseases (DHMH Form 1140) was changed to add HIV, along with AIDS, as a reportable condition; each case report should be submitted by the provider to the local health officer within 48 hours.
In past years, an estimated 92% of AIDS cases reported among children less than 13 years old in the US, were attributed to perinatal or mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Transmission can occur during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding. Recent reductions in perinatal transmission are attributed to routine screening of pregnant women to identify those infected with HIV and the use of anti-retroviral drugs for treatment and prophylaxis. Rates of HIV transmission from an infected mother to her infant have been reduced to less than 2%, compared to 25%-30% with no interventions.
The Baltimore Regional Perinatal Advisory Group (RPAG) works to optimize the health of pregnant women and newborn infants in the Baltimore region through education, advocacy and information sharing. RPAG has developed “Preventing Perinatal HIV Transmission: A Clinician’s Toolkit for Testing Counseling and Referral.”
For more information on HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing in Maryland, please contact:
Robyn Jones, M.P.H.
Program Coordinator
Phone: 410-539-0872 or 800-492-1056, ext. 332
Fax: 410- 649-4131
e-mail: rjones@medchi.org