PHIMC’s nationally recognized model for integrating routine HIV screening in diverse healthcare settings is featured in the most recent issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Public Health Reports. “Routine HIV Screening as a Standard of Care: Implementing HIV Screening in General Medical Settings, 2013-2015” details PHIMC’s implementation of routine HIV screening in seven health care systems in Illinois. The article, written by PHIMC’s Blair Harvey and Karen A. Reitan, former staff Laura Roche and Saul Zepeda, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Raekiela D. Taylor, appears in a special supplement: The Care and Prevention in the United States (CAPUS) Demonstration Project: Reducing HIV/AIDS-Related Morbidity and Mortality Among Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups.

In September 2006, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued revised recommendations for HIV testing and encouraged healthcare providers to test all patients ages 13 to 64. By screening everyone as part of routine health care, instead of targeting certain patients, clinics can increase the number of individuals who are diagnosed early, reduce stigma surrounding the disease, and effectively link patients to care and services. PHIMC has supported the implementation of routine HIV screening in healthcare and clinical sites throughout Illinois for over a decade.

Since 2007, PHIMC has received more than $10 million to support routine HIV screening implementation throughout Illinois, partnered with nearly 100 hospitals, jails, clinics, and health departments, and trained thousands of providers who have conducted more than 250,000 routine HIV screens identifying more than 2,500 people living with HIV. Protecting our Patients (POP) Campaign emerged from this work as a strategy to address HIV-related stigmas that keep routine HIV screening from becoming a standard of care. Through a rigorous evaluation of the campaign, POP has been shown to reduce provider-level stigmas toward gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals of color and to increase the likelihood of routine screening for HIV in healthcare settings.

Through CAPUS, PHIMC provided capacity-building assistance focused on systems, operational infrastructure, staff member skills, organizational structure, and clinic culture. Under PHIMC’s guidance, all seven Illinois systems participating in CAPUS established policies and procedures to implement routine screening; five integrated HIV test ordering and documentation into their electronic health records; four established a third-party billing and reimbursement process for testing. Across the sites, the number of tests increased by more than 40% each year. By engaging entire health care teams in the process, PHIMC shifted clinic culture to sustain HIV screening in the future.

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