Effect of an Electronic Alert on Targeted HIV Testing Among High-Risk Populations

Screening for HIV infection in medical settings remains suboptimal.

To examine the real-world effectiveness of an electronic clinician alert on the same-day HIV testing rate and early diagnosis in high-risk populations.

We identified Kaiser Permanente Southern California Health Plan members aged 14 years or older who received tests for sexually transmitted infections.

Encounter-based same-day HIV testing rate, positive test result rate, and CD4⁺ cell count and HIV viral load at diagnosis.

We identified 1,800,948 patients who made 2,326,701 health care encounters eligible for HIV testing before implementation (January 1, 2008 - June 30, 2012) and 1,362,479 eligible encounters after implementation (January 1, 2013 - June 30, 2015). The same-day HIV testing rate increased from 36.7% to 44.1% (standardized mean difference = 0.15, significant difference). The alert was associated with a moderate difference and statistically significant increase in the HIV testing rate (adjusted odds ratio = 1.17, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-1.18). The positive test result rate increased from 0.02% to 0.04% (p < 0.001). During the postimplementation period, fewer HIV-infected patients had a CD4⁺ cell count below 200 and/or an HIV viral load of 10,000 copies/mL or higher at diagnosis.

Implementation of a targeted electronic alert embedded in the electronic medical record improved same-day HIV screening rate and positive test result rates among patients receiving tests for sexually transmitted infections in a large health organization. This intervention has potential for facilitating frequent screening and early identification of HIV infection in high-risk populations.