Feds Aim to Bolster HIV Screening, Treatment
HIV: Start the Conversation
Dr. Mermin suggested the following approach to starting the conversation on HIV testing with a patient: “The CDC recommends that all patients are offered an HIV test. Would you like to know your HIV status?”
That approach “is very successful,” Dr. Mermin said. “Very few people will ask not to be tested under those circumstances. It takes the onus away from the provider to assess people's risk, and it takes the burden and awkwardness from the patient of having to raise the question of wanting an HIV test.”
The CDC testing initiative, supported by the American College of Physicians, the National Medical Association, the Society for General Internal Medicine, the HIV Medicine Association, and the American Academy of HIV Medicine, provides free a resource kit for physicians to use in primary care settings at
