For National HIV Testing Day, CDC Launches Serostatus Matters, a New Continuing Medical Education Opportunity to Encourage Primary Care Providers to Test their Patients for HIV

Over 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV and 1 in 8 – approximately 156,300 people – do not know they have it. HIV testing is the only way people can tell if they have HIV. Therefore, as part of an ongoing efforts to ensure everyone is tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime, CDC has partnered with Tufts University School of Medicine to produce Serostatus MattersExit Disclaimer, a new, free, continuing medical education/continuing education (CME/CE) opportunity. Serostatus Matters is intended to build the confidence of primary care providers to offer HIV testing and motivate them to do so, support their efforts in this area, and improve physician-patient interactions concerning HIV testing.Serostatus Matters is a video-based educational program featuring four modules:

• The importance of routine HIV screening
• Practical considerations for HIV screening implementation in the primary care clinician’s practice
• Communicating test results with patients
• Counseling the HIV-infected patient.

Physician-patient vignettes model discussions of these topics with patients of different ethnicities and sexual preferences, and with different HIV test results (HIV-positive, indeterminate, and HIV-negative with a high risk for infection). Serostatus Matters faculty members include Donna Sweet, MD, University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita; Celia Maxwell, MD, FACP, Howard University Hospital, Women’s Health Institute; Joseph McGowan, MD, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine; and Philip Peters, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Serostatus Matters is part of HIV Screening. Standard Care. in the United States could be prevented by testing and diagnosing people who have HIV and ensuring they receive prompt, ongoing care and treatment. For people who test negative, there are more prevention tools available today to prevent HIV than ever before.

Serostatus Matters is jointly provided by Tufts University School of Medicine Office of Continuing Education, RTI International, and CDC, and will be available for CME/CE credit through March 21, 2017. It is available through the American Journal of Medicine’s HIV Resource Center Exit Disclaimer, along with additional campaign materials, interactive video, and updated HIV screening recommendations and guidelines. Access is free to all healthcare providers.

National HIV Testing Day is held annually on June 27th to help ensure Americans get tested for HIV and provides a reminder that HIV testing saves lives. CDC offers basic information on HIV testing, campaigns, and supports Get Tested, an online service to help users locate an HIV, STD, and hepatitis testing site near them, in addition to funding grantees across the country to focus on HIV testing.

Accreditation InformationSerostatus Matters has been approved for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit.TM

Nursing contact hour will be awarded.

Release date: March 22, 2016

Credit Expiration date: March 21, 2017