Funding Needed to Implement New HIV Testing Law, Say Advocates

SPRINGFIELD, IL (May 29, 2008)—State officials should appropriate $2 million in the fiscal year 2009 budget for the implementation of a new law designed to expand voluntary HIV testing in Illinois, AIDS advocates say. The General Assembly must pass a budget by midnight on Saturday, May 31.

“To help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we must ensure everyone living with HIV knows their status and gains access to needed care, prevention, and support services,” said Mark Ishaug, President/CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC). “If fully implemented, this new law will boldly move Illinois to the forefront of the nation’s fight against HIV/AIDS.”

Signed last year by Governor Rod Blagojevich on National HIV Testing Day, the new measure goes into effect this Sunday, June 1. State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and now-retired State Sen. Carol Ronen (D-Chicago) sponsored the legislation in 2007.

The Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Illinois Hospital Association, the Chicago Department of Public Health, the ACLU of Illinois, the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, and AFC, among others, helped legislative leaders develop the legislation.

The new law will give Illinois medical settings greater latitude in efforts to obtain patients’ informed consent for HIV testing. In particular, patients will be able to consent to testing verbally or in writing. Facilities may also implement “opt-out” testing as recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Until June 1, Illinois law requires patients’ signature as confirmation they are well informed of the meaning of HIV test results and consent to HIV screening.

“It is important for providers and patients to understand that this law preserves the requirement that testing be provided only with informed consent,” said Ann Hilton Fisher, Executive Director of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago. “The law makes amply clear that the decision to accept or decline testing remains a fundamental right of patients to make for themselves.”

Penalties for violating patients’ rights under the law, including the right to informed consent, were doubled to a minimum $2,000 for a negligent violation of the testing or confidentiality laws and $10,000 for a reckless or intentional violation.

Other provisions include:

• Healthcare providers must deliver brief pre-test information to patients about HIV and the meaning of test results. Information may be supplied in writing, verbally, by video, or other means. Patients must have the opportunity to ask questions.
  
• HIV-positive test results must be delivered in person.
  
• Detailed public health regulations will define medical providers’ post-testing counseling requirements for people who test HIV-negative.
  
• Medical professionals must provide patients newly diagnosed with HIV counseling and healthcare referrals to ensure they receive needed follow-up medical and support services.
  
• The Illinois Department of Public Health is charged with implementation of the new law.

HIV testing expansion is especially important for the estimated 10,000 Illinoisans who remain unaware of their HIV-positive status. Without testing and access to care and prevention services, these individuals are at heightened risk for severe declines in health. They may also unwittingly put their sex and needle-sharing partners at increased risk for HIV infection.

A new, $2 million appropriation would provide voluntary HIV testing to an estimated 46,000 individuals and diagnose HIV in nearly 1,000 individuals who might otherwise remain unaware of their status. In addition, the state will need to closely monitor the availability of HIV care and prevention services as more state residents with HIV are identified and will require assistance accessing vital HIV-related services.

“The state’s legal reforms will help only if they are matched with a meaningful investment that increases the availability of voluntary counseling and testing services,” said John Peller, AFC Director of Government Relations. “Linking people with HIV with high-quality healthcare and support services—and helping HIV-negative individuals avoid infection—must remain the ultimate goal of Illinois’ testing expansion activities.”

Founded by community activists and physicians in 1985, AFC is a catalyst for local, national, and international action on HIV/AIDS. Learn more about AFC at aidschicago.org.

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