Materials and Links

Background:

In September 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its HIV testing recommendations for adults, adolescents, and pregnant women recommending routine, opt-out testing in health-care settings.  Soon after the release of the guidelines, the national summit "New Opportunities in HIV Diagnosis Prevention and Access to Care" was convened in Washington DC and highlighted critical public health, clinical, legal, and social issues emerging from the current status of the HIV epidemic in the United States in the context of the revised CDC recommendations.  The summit effectively raised national awareness of the urgent need to improve and expand domestic diagnosis, prevention, and access to care.  In November 2008, a second national summit will bring together experts to continue the discussions around improving HIV diagnosis, prevention, and access to care. The scientific planning committee for the 2008 national summit includes representation from federal, state, and local agencies, academic, industry, community and advocacy groups.

Several themes emerged from the 2006 summit requiring more in depth discussions with relevant stakeholders. These will be addressed by a series of roundtable discussions in preparation for the November 2008 summit.

Objectives:

The first research discussion of the series will focus on developing a unified and supportive framework for routine HIV testing and identifying models for implementing opt-out HIV testing programs.  The objectives for this roundtable are:

1. To bring together the various federal agencies, legislators, and community constituencies to review current policies and identify areas where conflicting policies do not support effective implementation of the CDC recommendations
2. To facilitate discussions aimed at resolving the barriers to improving routine HIV testing
3. To review and describe the consistencies and divergences among local jurisdictions and/or clinical settings
4. To review the successes and challenges faced by various local jurisdictions and/or clinical settings
5. To discuss and recommend HIV testing models based on lessons learned from emergency departments, perinatal programs, health departments, community health centers and other settings.

The Forum will generate a report summarizing the topics, themes, and recommendations discussed at the roundtable.  Information generated from the roundtable will also serve as a blueprint for the upcoming 2008 national summit in November, 2008.  

Status:

The roundtable was held on April 17-18, 2008 at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, VA

Roundtable Planning Committee Members:

David Kern, Roundtable Chair
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors

Christine Lubinski, Roundtable Chair
HIV Medicine Association

Rich Rothman, Roundtable Chair
Johns Hopkins University

John G Bartlett, HIV Summit Chair
Johns Hopkins University

Bernard M. Branson
CDC - Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention

Laura Cheever
Heath Resource and Services Administration

Kenneth Mayer, HIV Summit Chair
Brown University

Kathy McNamara
National Association of Community Health Centers

Veronica Miller
Forum for Collaborative HIV Research

David Munar
AIDS Foundation of Chicago

Donna Sweet
The University of Kansas School of Medicine

Ronald O. Valdiserri
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs