HIV-positive patients' names to be disclosed to Health Dept.

The names of patients diagnosed with HIV will now be provided to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health following a unanimous vote by the Massachussetts Public Health Council yesterday.

Before the vote, Massachusetts was one of only a few remaining states in the country that kept track of HIV-positive diagnoses through a coded system to protect patients' privacy, said MDPH HIV/AIDS Bureau Director Kevin Cranston.

Massachusetts had respected patients' wishes to remain unnamed when the federal government ruled in 1999 that states must report early-stage HIV infections in addition to AIDS cases, Cranston said.

When Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act on Dec. 18, 2006, however, Massachusetts stood to lose $33 million in AIDS/HIV prevention funding -- $13 million for Boston alone -- if it did not comply.

"When we started this process, it was a threat," Cranston said. "Now it is a law."

When asked about patients' concerns that their information might now become accessible to other people, Cranston insisted the data will be kept secure in a locked building. Only 10 people will be cleared to have knowledge of the names, he added.

"I'm not even allowed in there," he said. "I can't look at the data, the state can't look at the data and not even [representatives of the federal government] can look at the data."

Several other sexually transmitted diseases must now be reported as well, including chlamydia, genital warts, gonorrhea, herpes simplex, pelvic inflammatory disease and syphilis.

While practicing physicians are now required to record the names of patients they diagnose with HIV, the law will not cover free clinics that test for HIV.

Cranston said this is because the clinics offer preliminary examinations, after which people who test positive are referred to a doctor for further tests to get an official diagnosis.

"It's not exactly a loophole," he said of anonymous testing, because people who test positive must confirm the results with a qualified physician.