By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO | Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:41am IST
CHICAGO (Reuters) - An influential panel is calling for HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65, regardless of whether they are considered to be at high risk, a change that may help lift some of the stigma associated with HIV testing.
The new guidelines from the Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel of doctors and scientists, now align with longstanding recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing of all adults aged 15 to 65, regardless of their risk.
Prior guidelines issued by the USPSTF in 2005 had recommended HIV screening for high-risk individuals.
Experts said the guideline change, published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, will likely trigger coverage for the tests as a preventive service under the Affordable Care Act. Under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, insurers are required to cover preventive services that are recommended by the task force.
Currently, the healthcare law recommends coverage of HIV testing for adolescents and adults who are at higher risk of infection.
"That was based on the 2005 USPSTF recommendations," Dr. Jeffrey Lennox, a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of infectious disease at Grady Memorial Hospital, an inner-city hospital in Atlanta.
"Now, hopefully they will go back and re-categorize that and recommend that it will be covered for every adult."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could not confirm the tests would be covered, but Lennox said it may take a while before the agency catches up to the new policy.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Douglas Royalty)
No comments:
Post a Comment