Step 3: Initiating standard screening protocols
Identifying who to screen for what infection(s) and when is a critical consideration for how to implement an effective routine screening program (PDF). Community health centers continue to face challenges with individual biases about sexual health and infectious disease, both from patients and the clinical staff. This sense of vulnerability, compounded by socialized stereotypes and stigma, makes STD testing consent conversations emotional and complex. Implementing an opt-out approach to screening can help simplify these conversations and normalize screening as a standard of care.
Guidance from the EHR, including automated reminders and prompts, as well as straightforward, demographic-based routine screening criterion have proven to be effective tools for increasing screening and are time and energy savers for a busy care team. Patients feel more comfortable if routine screening is offered as a clinical standard of care, and they feel seen and heard by health care professionals.
Critical considerations at this stage
- The more complex the criteria, the harder it is to reliably execute routine screening
- Screening conversations can take time while moving through the EHR making the interaction less personal and more transactional
- Implicit bias carried by care team staff members
- Lack of EHR support and optimized structure for routine screening
- Relying on clinicians to remember to screen for all diseases without alerts or reminders
- Time constraint of patient encounters
Strategies you can implement
- 1. Implement the “opt-out” approach
Training health care professionals to implement opt-out language helps normalize routine screening as standard of care. Opt-out screening reduces the subjectivity of the decision on behalf of the patient where consent is not legally required.
Related resources
- Explanation of opt-out screening approach for HIV: This resource link from the CDC provides an explanation of an opt-out approach to screening and why it is effective at increasing screening.
- Sample opt out script for clinicians during HIV screening encounter: Pages 4-5 of the Guidance for Delivering HIV Pre-Test and Post-Test Results resource from the Reproductive Health National Training Center outlines samples scripts that clinicians can use when conducting an opt-out approach to HIV screening.
- Discussion Guide: Using normalizing and opt-out language for chlamydia and gonorrhea: This resource from the Reproductive Health National Training Center is designed to build the confidence of clinic staff to use normalizing and opt-out language for chlamydia and gonorrhea screening.
- State Laws that address High-Impact HIV Prevention Efforts: This resource from the CDC is a summary of state specific laws on a minor’s autonomous consent for HIV and/STI services, and laws that address HIV prevention efforts.
- 2. Stick to sex-positive messaging about the benefits of routine screening
Equipping care team members with training and resources on sex-positive and non-judgmental messaging about risk, transmission, treatment, outcomes and benefits of screening can help overcome initial patient refusal.
Related resources
Care team resources to help health care providers educate patients on the importance of sexual health: These tools from the National Coalition for Sexual Health can help health care providers and clinical staff cultivate a clinical environment that delivers inclusive, patient-centered, and accessible sexual health services for all patients.
- Inclusive Sexual Health Services: Practical Guidelines for Providers & Clinics
- Sexual Health and Your Patients: A Provider’s Guide
- Compendium of Sexual & Reproductive Health Resources for Healthcare Providers
Care team training on LGBTQ, transgender and gender nonconforming essentials: The AMA Ed Hub offers a series of training modules developed by Howard Brown Health, SAGECare, The Fenway Institute and more that can help provide education to your care team on sex-positive and gender appropriate language and methods to incorporate best practices into your organization.
- 3. Implement automated EHR reminders, prompts and orders to increase screening
EHRs that automatically flag patients in need of screening as well as EHR reminders to initiate screening takes the pressure off the health care professional to remember who to screen. Alerts can automatically prepopulate test orders, further reducing the clinician’s responsibilities. Auto-orders in the EHR that are connected to algorithms to identify who is recommended for routine screening will reduce time in the EHR and additional steps for clinicians. Positive and indeterminant results can also be linked to auto-orders for confirmatory testing.
Related resources
- Clinical Decision Support System to Increase HIV Screening: This webpage outlines Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommendations and considerations for clinical decision support systems, which evidence shows increases HIV screening both for the general population as well as those at higher risk for HIV infection.
- Tips to Leverage Your Electronic Health Record to Implement Opt-Out HIV: This resource from Health Information Technology Evaluation and Quality Center outlines best practices and strategies for implementing opt-out HIV screening in your organization using the electronic health record.
- 4. Strengthen infectious disease control as strategic imperative
Presenting the health and cost-benefit analysis of diagnosing diseases early versus treating disease progression can help strengthen infectious disease control as a strategic imperative in a health setting and gain access to timesaving resources.
Related resources
- HIV Cost-effectiveness: This resource from the CDC provides a basic guide to the cost-effectiveness analysis of prevention interventions for HIV infection and AIDS and help prevention program staff and planners become more familiar with potential uses of economic evaluation.
- Integrating Routine HIV Screening Into Clinical Practice (PDF): This resource from the CDC outlines the clinical benefits of early HIV diagnosis and treatment.
- Cost-effectiveness of testing and treatment for Latent Tuberculosis Infection: This original investigation published in JAMA Internal Medicine aimed to estimate health outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of LTBI testing and treatment among non-US born residents with and without medical comorbidities.
Related video
Stick to sex-positive messaging about the benefits of routine screening
Jason Zucker, MD, talks about the many benefits of sex-positive messaging in HIV care
Download the Community Health Center toolkit
Next steps
The HIV, STIs, Viral Hepatitis and LTBI Routine Screening Toolkit is organized across the screening continuum and offers helpful resources and best practices for the care team.
Disclaimer: This page contains resources supplied by third party organizations. Inclusion of these materials on this page does not imply endorsement of these resources or corresponding organization.
