HIV testing and counseling in the nation's outpatient substance abuse treatment system, 1995–2005

Abstract 

This article examines the extent to which U.S. outpatient substance abuse treatment (OSAT) facilities provide HIV counseling and testing (C&T) to clients between 1995 and 2005. We also examine organizational and client characteristics associated with OSAT facilities' provision of HIV C&T. Data were collected from a nationally representative sample of outpatient treatment facilities in 1995 (n = 618), 2000 (n = 571), and 2005 (n = 566). Results show that in 1995, 26.8% of OSAT clients received HIV C&T; by 2005, this proportion had increased, but only to 28.8%. Further, results from random-effects interval regression analysis show that C&T is especially widespread in public and nonprofit facilities, in methadone facilities, and in units that serve injection drug users and commercial sex workers. HIV C&T was also more widespread in units that employed formal intake protocols. Despite widespread efforts to increase HIV C&T services in OSAT care, only a small and stable minority of clients receive these services. Adoption of formal intake procedures may provide one vehicle to increase provision of C&T services.

Keywords: HIV counseling and testing, Substance abuse treatment, Opiate, Managed care