Open AccessEffective HIV Case Identification Through Routine HIV Screening at Urgent Care Centers in Massachusetts
Author(s) -
Rochelle P. Walensky,
Elena Losina,
Laureen Malatesta,
George E. Barton,
Catherine A. O’Connor,
Paul R. Skolnik,
Jonathan Hall,
Jean McGuire,
Kenneth A. Freedberg
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2003.031310
Subject(s) - referral , medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , family medicine , hiv screening , hiv diagnosis , antiretroviral therapy , viral load , men who have sex with men , syphilis
Think HIV offered HIV counseling, testing, and referral to patients at 4 Massachusetts urgent care centers from January to September 2002. We compared the positive diagnosis yield of Think HIV with that of state-funded HIV counseling, testing, and referral sites. Think HIV found an HIV prevalence of 2.0% compared with 1.9% identified by self-referral testing. Urgent care center-based routine HIV counseling, testing, and referral programs are feasible, can have high positive diagnosis yields, and should be the standard of care in high HIV prevalence areas.