HIV testing.

Existing law requires that every patient who has blood drawn at a primary care clinic, as defined, and who has consented to the test to be offered an HIV test that is consistent with the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for screening for HIV infection. Existing law specifies the manner in which the results of that test are provided. This bill would create a pilot project, administered by the State Department of Public Health, to assess and make recommendations regarding the effectiveness of the routine offering of an HIV test in the emergency department of a hospital. The bill would require the department to select 4 hospitals, or fewer under specified circumstances, that have emergency departments to voluntarily participate in the pilot project. The bill would require the participating hospitals to offer an HIV test to any patient in the hospital emergency department, as provided, to collect specified information, and to report the information to the department. The pilot project would commence on March 1, 2017, and end on February 28, 2019. The bill would require the department, by December 1, 2019, to complete a report to the Legislature on the findings of the hospitals in the pilot project and make recommendations about routine HIV testing in hospital emergency departments. This bill would require that these provisions be implemented only to the extent that the department identifies available funding for the purposes of these provisions.