Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 19, September 20, 2024
A. General medical
consent is sufficient to perform HIV testing.
B. Consent for HIV testing is only required
to be obtained one time during a patient's visit.
C. A health care provider who obtains consent
for HIV testing shall:
(1) Obtain consent as a
part of a patient's general consent for medical care in the same manner as for
other screening and diagnostic tests;
(2) Document all declinations of an HIV test
in the medical record of the patient; and
(3) When needed, obtain:
(a) Consent from a health care agent
designated per Health-General Article, §5-602, Annotated Code of Maryland;
or
(b) Surrogate consent per
Health-General Article, §5-605 Annotated Code of Maryland.
D. The general informed
consent form for medical care may specify that an HIV test will be
performed.
E. Except as provided
under Regulation .08 of this chapter, a health care provider may not be
required to obtain consent for HIV testing on a separate consent
form.
F. Pretest information,
including counseling for pregnant women, shall be provided to the patient to be
tested for HIV before each specimen is tested.
G. A health care provider providing pretest
information, including counseling for pregnant women, shall:
(1) Provide HIV-specific information:
(a) Verbally;
(b) In writing;
(c) Through video; or
(d) Through any combination of
§G(l)(a)-(c) of this regulation;
(2) Provide HIV information in a manner that
protects the confidentiality of the patient being tested;
(3) Using layman's terms, provide, at
minimum, the following information to the patient being tested:
(a) That the patient is being tested for
HIV;
(b) That the patient has the
right to:
(i) Ask questions; and
(ii) Decline the test without
penalty;
(c) An
explanation of HIV infection;
(d)
That a negative HIV test result means that:
(i) A patient is not infected with HIV or
that the test was unable to detect the presence of HIV because a patient is in
the early stage of infection and has not yet developed detectable evidence of
HIV infection; and
(ii) If the
patient has had any potential recent exposures, the patient should be retested
within an appropriate timeframe based on the type of testing used;
and
(e) That a positive
HIV test result means the patient:
(i) Is
infected with HIV; and
(ii) Will be
linked with medical treatment and other supportive services;
(4) Provide counseling
as defined in Regulation .02 of this chapter to pregnant women;
(5)
Include an opportunity for the patient to:
(a)
Ask questions and receive answers about HIV and other topics described in this
regulation; and
(b) Decline an HIV
test; and
(6) Make
necessary accommodation with respect to language or disability to ensure that
the patient being tested understands the information presented.
