Practice Management
CVS Health is one of the defendants in a federal lawsuit claiming that it and other companies failed to protect the HIV status of 6,000 patients in Ohio—not through an online data breach, but thanks to a poorly constructed envelope. The suit filed by three unidentified plaintiffs maintains that when CVS mailed letters to patients in the state’s HIV drug assistance program last year, the recipients’ HIV status was visible in the envelope’s glassine window. …
Read More
Urgent message: Increasingly, Americans do not know their human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serostatus. Implementing rapid HIV testing can allow your center to play a key role in identifying new cases of HIV and linking patients to care. Abstract Background: Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that an increasing number of Americans do not know their human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serostatus. The CDC recommends routine screening for all patients 13 to …
Read More
A 35-year-old man with a history of human immunodeficiency virus presents with smooth, skin-colored pearly papules with central umbilication on his cheeks, chin, and lateral neck. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
Read More
A 40-year-old woman with a history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) presents with flat-topped verrucous papules on her hands. Her most recent CD4 count was approximately 150 cells/μL. She notes that she regularly uses sunscreen on her face but not on her hands, and she is wondering whether the lack of sunscreen could be a cause of the lesions. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
Read More
Urgent message: Response to a needlestick with potential for HIV exposure requires understanding of both state laws on HIV testing and the latest USPSTF guidelines for post-exposure management. MAYA HECK, MS-2 and JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEPTwo police officers arrive at your urgent care site with a handcuffed, bloodied prisoner. One officer tells you that the person in custody “spit on me” during the altercation. The officer goes on to tell you that the …
Read More
It is common knowledge that each patient needs to have a symptomspecific evaluation with each visit, but it is easy to be misled by “frequent fliers” who have presented many times with the same complaint. Take this month’s case, for example: a 37-year-old man with a headache who had four emergency department and two primary care visits before finally receiving the correct diagnosis. Accuracy and vigilance must be the goal of each patient encounter, no …
Read More