Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 45, November 8, 2024
Section 64-64-7 - Post-Exposure Care and Treatment7.1. A health facility shall have access to a knowledgeable trained health care provider to assess the HIV exposure risk of health care providers, emergency responders or other persons during all working hours, including nights and weekends. The assessment of HIV exposure risk and initiation of basic postexposure care regimen requires knowledge or experience in clinical epidemiology, infection control, occupational health, or the clinical treatment of HIV. Consultation with subject matter experts on the facility's currently accepted practice, when prescribing post-exposure prophylaxis, is strongly encouraged.7.2. A health facility shall have a written post-exposure HIV management plan patterned after current recommendations of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).7.3. A laboratory shall not determine a test result to be positive, and a health care provider shall not reveal a positive test result to any person, without conducting corroborating or confirmatory testing. However, a laboratory may release preliminary test results to the health care provider assessing the significant exposure for the purposes of determining post-exposure management of the health care provider, emergency responder or other person.7.4. Health care providers shall report all confirmed positive test results to the Bureau in compliance with Section 12 of this rule.7.5. The employer of a health care provider or emergency responder who was exposed while performing a duty of his or her employment shall bear the costs of HIV tests of blood or oral samples of the source patient and the health care provider or emergency responder, unless a workers' compensation or other benefit program affords coverage for the testing. For a health care provider or emergency responder who tested negative for HIV antibodies immediately following the exposure, the employer shall also bear the costs of the CDC's recommended initial prophylactic treatment and additional HIV testing at three and six months after exposure, unless a workers' compensation or other job-related employee benefit program affords coverage for the treatment and testing.7.6. Relative to the management of source patient medical information, the health care provider or emergency responder reporting a significant exposure is subject to the requirements of the disclosure statement contained in W. Va. Code § 16-3C-3(c) and to the remedies and penalties specified in W. Va. Code § 16-3C-5.