Health & Human services

HIV Reporting by Healthcare Providers

HIV Epidemiology Program

The goal of the HIV Epidemiology Program is to provide a comprehensive picture of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to support prevention and health service activities delivered by the Department of Public Health.  Epidemiologists are responsible for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of adult HIV/AIDS case data. The program also collaborates with planning and policy groups, health care providers, and other Bureaus within the Department of Public Health. The Long Beach Health Department provides surveillance information and assists with the assessment of resource distribution and ongoing planning to ensure that the needs of people at risk for infection or infected with HIV are met.

HIV Reporting: 

HIV related information cannot be sent via fax or email. Please mail or call to report a case or a laboratory test.  When mailing an Adult Case Report Form, secure the mail by using double envelopes with the inside envelope clearly marked "Confidential", the terms HIV or AIDS should NOT be included in the mailing address, and use a traceable mail carrier such as FedEx.

Reporting Form:

• HIV Adult Case Reporting Form
  
• Instructions on how to fill out an HIV Adult Case Reporting Form

By State law, HIV infection is a reportable condition in California. This requires laboratories, health care providers, and testing providers to report all cases of HIV infection to their local health department.  This reporting requirement is necessary to timely monitor current trends in the epidemic, and to ensure continued funding by federal and State funding agencies for local AIDS treatment and HIV prevention services. 

California Health and Safety (H&S) Code Section 121022(a) requires health care providers and laboratories to report cases of HIV infection by name to local health departments.  H&S Code Section 121023(a) requires that all CD4 + T-Cell test results also be reported to the local health department.  By law, and per State regulations, laboratories must report all CD4 + T-Cell test results and any HIV-indicative test, including all viral load results and confirmed antibody tests to their local health department within 7 days.

Laboratories located in Long Beach are responsible for reporting all CD4 T-Cell test results (not just those < 200/ul or < 14%), as well as any HIV-indicative test - including all viral loads (even if undetectable) and confirmed antibody tests - to Long Beach's Health Officer.  The Health Officer's designee - HIV Epidemiology Program - will follow up with health care providers for laboratory reports sent in order to complete the HIV/AIDS registry.

Health care providers are responsible for providing the client's full name, date of birth and gender when submitting laboratory requisitions for any test used to identify HIV, a component of HIV, or antibodies or antigens to HIV.

• HIPAA Privacy Rule and Public Health