HIV & HCV in New York State

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The End the Epidemic (ETE) campaign started in 2014; the goal was to reduce new HIV infections to 750 per year by the year 2020.  According to the ETE website statistics, in 2021, the last year that HIV data was collected and analyzed, there were 1,592 new HIV diagnoses in New York City, and 2,120 new HIV diagnoses in the rest of the state.  There were also 1,053 AIDS diagnoses in New York City, and 1,055 AIDS diagnoses in the rest of the state.  Sexually transmitted infections whose routes of transmission are the same as those for HIV have skyrocketed, increasing each year for the past seven years.  "The US STI epidemic shows no signs of slowing," said Dr. Leandro Mena, Director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention.

Many New Yorkers are living with HIV but remain unaware of their status.  In some cases, these individuals are actively engaging with providers within the health care system but are not being offered HIV testing.  This is lacking from both the standard of care and New York State regulation. 

NYS Public Health Law mandates the offer of HIV testing to all patients age 13 or older receiving primary care services at an outpatient clinic or primary care services from a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner or midwife; all who provide primary care, or their representatives, regardless of the setting.  The offer of HIV testing applies to nursing homes, substance use disorder treatment facilities, college health services, retail clinics, urgent care centers, employee health services, and STD clinics that provide primary care.     

Primary Care means the medical fields of: 

• Family medicine

• General pediatrics 

• Primary care 

• Internal medicine 

• Primary care obstetrics/gynecology

It is not sufficient to refer the patient to testing outside of the facility. 

The offer of the HIV test must be documented in the patient's medical record.

Click the button below to see End The Epidemic statistics.

Requiring already understaffed and overcrowded healthcare facilities to stop their current scope of duties and perform HIV and HCV testing and the necessary linkage (to care) can be very time consuming… time that they often do not have.

HIV and HCV testing requires training and education, and subsequent updates to that training.  It requires managing the tests and the testing data, communicating with test suppliers and care providers, knowledge of PrEP, PrEP AP, PEP, ADAP (The AIDS Drug Assistance Program), ADAP Plus, APIC, Home Care, pharmaceutical company co-pay programs, patient advocacy programs, PNAP, the (Partner Notification Assistance Program), corresponding CPT codes, public health laws that regulate HIV and HCV testing, and the confidentiality laws that correspond to them.

Prevention Healthcare Services can manage all of your required HIV and HCV testing.  

On July 27, 2018, Governor Cuomo announced the establishment of the Elimination Task Force to fight the "Silent Epidemic" of Hepatitis C.  "This holistic, first-in-the-nation approach to eradicating hepatitis C is modeled on our ongoing efforts to end the AIDS epidemic, and will improve the health of many of the most vulnerable among us including people battling drug addiction," Governor Cuomo said. "We are going to end hepatitis C in New York State."  

Hepatitis C-related deaths have exceeded HIV-related deaths in the state outside of New York City since 2007; injection drug use is the most common risk factor and the opioid epidemic has begun a new rise in new hepatitis C cases. 

The New York State Hepatitis C Testing Law enacted on January 1st, 2014 states that:

A hepatitis C screening test must be offered to every individual born 

between 1945 and 1965.

In April of 2020, the CDC amended HCV testing recommendations to include: 1) HCV screening at least once in a lifetime for all adults eighteen years or older*, and 2) HCV screening for all pregnant women during each pregnancy*.

* except in settings where the prevalence of HCV infection is less than 0.1%.

Settings include:  

Hospital (inpatient)  

Hospital out patient clinics 

Other health care settings where primary care services are being offered. 

If an individual accepts the offer of a HCV screening test and the hepatitis C antibody screening test is reactive, the health care provider should immediately perform a hepatitis C diagnostic test (HCV RNA).  If the diagnostic test is positive, the provider should refer the individual to a healthcare provider who can provide follow-up care. 

Letting a patient know that outside testing is available is not an offer of testing.  An example of an offer would be, "We are routinely offering hepatitis C testing to all persons born between 1945 and 1965.  Would you like to be tested for hepatitis C?" 

Click the button below to see Hepatitis C statistics in New York State.