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

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.