The issue of routine testing for HIV has been on the table at most health departments and at the CDC for at least ten years. This article seems to imply that Massachusetts, and its DPH, will move forward with such standardization.
If confidentiality is retained, and destigmatisation is moved forward, I am all for it. However, as each State has its own confidentiality law, some of the issues that have prevented the routine administration of a test with other blood work has always been prohibitive because of those laws.
It seems from the few statistics in this article, the number of new cases has not decreased in a decade, and the serious and warranted concern of transmission remains a severe challenge for health and social services without new testing procedures.
Massachusetts changes will most likely affect other health departments, and those changes if introduced with care might well prove efficacious in decreasing the number of people infected and potentially affected--providing prevention messages are retained and enforced.
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