Availability of HIV Screening and Education in the US Addiction Treatment System

The CDC estimates there are currently one million Americans living with HIV/ AIDS and nearly one-fourth of these individuals are not aware they are infected. Given the historical link between drug abuse and HIV, the addiction treatment system has the opportunity to play a central role in the early detection and prevention of HIV. The key objective of this study is to determine to what extent US addiction treatment programs are screening and educating clients about HIV. Data from a nationally representative sample of 400 addiction treatment programs indicates that 74% of addiction treatment centers routinely assess patients for the risk of HIV/AIDS at intake, however a significantly lower number of treatment centers provide a full spectrum of HIV screening, counseling, and education services. For example, only 34% of treatment centers provide HIV antibody testing onsite. Centers providing this service report testing an average of 20% of their total caseload for HIV/AIDS annually. Additionally, only 14% of treatment centers provide onsite support groups for clients with HIV/AIDS. Finally, while 85% of centers report offering HIV/AIDS education and prevention services, less than half require counselors to cover HIV education as part of their usual interaction with clients. Overall, these findings indicate the addiction treatment system is not maximizing its opportunity to screen and educate clients about HIV/AIDS. To make a more significant impact on HIV related health outcomes and improve the overall quality of addiction treatment, we suggest that treatment programs increase efforts to provide HIV screening and education services in-house.