MMWR: Routine HIV Screening in Two Health-Care Settings –New York City and New Orleans, 2011-2013

This report describes novel HIV screening programs at the Urban Health Plan (UHP), Inc. in New York City and the Interim Louisiana Hospital (ILH) emergency department in New Orleans. Both received startup funding from Gilead Sciences’ HIV on the Frontlines of Communities in the United States (FOCUS) program to implement routine HIV screening. Both programs identified previously undiagnosed HIV infections. Use of the new testing algorithm allowed the New Orleans program to identify antibody-negative acute infections in five (6%) of the 77 patients with newly diagnosed HIV. Of the 32,534 patients UHP screened during January 2011–September 2013, 148 (0.45%) tested HIV-positive, and 43 (29%) were newly diagnosed. UHP and ILH identified patients with undiagnosed and previously diagnosed HIV infections and successfully linked the majority to HIV medical care. The findings demonstrate that routine HIV screening using existing clinical staff increased the numbers of patients tested and diagnosed with HIV infection.