DHSTS April 28, 2014 Annual HIV Testing Project Coordinator’s Meeting

 Definition: The process of assisting HIV-diagnosed persons to enter medical care. A person is seen by a health care provider to receive medical care for HIV infection. The medical care (linkage) verification should include confirmation that the person attended the first medical appointment and has a documented viral load and CD4 count  Procedures: ◦ HIV tester coordinates with Navigator or Clinical Point of Care Contact to ensure client gets to Care site on the same or next business day ◦ HIV Tester must call Navigator to follow up to confirm whether medical appointment was attended (multiple calls may be necessary – see above) and enter follow-up information into Evaluation Web.

 Definition: Partner Services include a range of services for newly and previously diagnosed HIV infected persons to notify their sex and needle-sharing partners of possible HIV exposure. The goal is to offer services (such as HIV testing) that can protect the health of partners. In addition these services can assist in reducing/preventing re-infection in persons with HIV.  Procedures: ◦ HIV Tester provides a description of Partner Notification, options for Partner Notification and initiates Contact Elicitation. ◦ If one of the following is chosen: Provider Referral, Dual Referral or Contract Referral. Partner Type and Partner Notification option are BOTH documented in DAP note, then answer (see above) YES to “Was the client referred to/contacted by Partner Services”, “Was the client interviewed for Partner Services” and “Was the client interview within 30 days of receiving their test result”

 Definition: Prevention Services are defined as generally any service or intervention aimed at reducing risk for transmitting or acquiring HIV infection directly or indirectly (this can include mental health, substance abuse and other support services).  Procedure: ◦ Utilize Resources (Resources to include but are not be limited to HIV Resource Directory and DHSTS Directory, both located on Rutgers Website or through resources gathered at Regional Collaboration Meetings) ◦ Make appropriate referrals to services based on target population and/or risk behaviors ◦ Referral should be considered an “Active Coordination of Services with Follow-up” ◦ Enter both the referral and confirmed attendance information in Evaluation Web (this may include one or more follow-up calls to the referred agency for confirmation)

 Definition: The client’s self-report of the most severe housing status in the past 12 months. Procedure: HIV tester must collect the information from the client Enter the information in the Evaluation web.

 Protocol for Rapid testing site: ◦ Initial HIV Tester will perform the rapid test at first site. The client is transported to Rapid-Rapid site(second site). ◦ Second site tester has the responsibility to provide the second test information and any referral information gathered/verified/confirmed (i.e. linkage to care) to the first site. ◦ Initial HIV tester from the first site has the responsibility to enter ALL data into Evaluation Web (second test data, referral data, follow-up to referral, etc.) *Refer to Robert Wood Johnson’s HIV Rapid 2 Rapid Policy & Procedures for details

Provider Referral - when the provider [this may be through DHSTS Partner Services (formerly NAP)], with the consent of the client, takes the responsibility for contacting partners and refers them for counseling and testing. Dual Referral - the client informs their partner of their HIV status while in the presence of the HIV counselor. Contract Referral – provider [through DHSTS Partner Services (formerly NAP)], does the informing only if the client does not notify the partner within a negotiated period of time.

Sexual: heterosexual or same-sex Needle-sharing: including but limited to: through drug use, hormone use, tattooing, medication, silicone, etc.

 New table to record the form ID numbers of any clients testing positive within the reporting month.  This is to assist PMO's in following up with missing/incomplete data. All confirmed positive test results need to be recorded in this table by entering the form ID numbers.