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News release: Colorado - Denver/BoulderAugust 14, 2001 For more information, call: Kaiser Permanente Colorado researcher makes CDC presentation Denver, CO – Studies presented by researchers from Kaiser Permanente were featured today at the HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the studies supports the findings of a CDC report that was highlighted at a news conference in Atlanta. One of the authors of that study, Deanna Merrill, a clinical pharmacist for Kaiser Permanente in Colorado, shows that 40 percent of patients diagnosed with HIV have already progressed to full-blown AIDS. These patients have known risk factors or clinical symptoms of the disease, and would have been diagnosed with HIV earlier, if they had been tested. "What we have found," says Merrill, "is that everyone, both physicians and patients, need to be aware of the risk factors associated with HIV infection. As many people are unaware of these, they do not think it possible that they could be infected with HIV. When in fact, the largest growing segment of newly diagnosed patients are heterosexual. Early detection of HIV infection allows for early treatment, better outcomes, and can reduce the spread of the virus. "The findings of this study have already generated discussion about ways to improve communication between patients and health care providers regarding HIV risk factors and infection. We need to continue to work toward decreasing the stigma and barriers associated with getting tested," she said. The study, called HEDS UP (HIV Early Detection Study of Unrecognized Positives) is the first performed by Kaiser Permanente's Consortium on HIV/AIDS Inter-regional Research CHAIR, a consortium made up of the seven regional divisions of Kaiser Permanente and the Group Health Cooperative of Washington state, all not-for-profit health plans with research centers. CHAIR is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente's Sidney Garfield Memorial Fund and aims to conduct research to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcomes. HEDS UP was funded by grants from the Agouron and Dupont pharmaceutical companies. The authors of HEDS UP have already begun work on HEDS UP II, which will develop and evaluate interventions to improve the rate of early diagnosis. A second Kaiser Permanente study presented in poster form at the conference identifies ways to reduce barriers to HIV testing and improve prevention. Some of the barriers to testing the study identifies include missed appointments at which test results would be disclosed—as many as 40 percent of those appointments aren't kept—and lack of available counseling. A pilot program offering telephone counseling improved the rate of patient follow-up for HIV test results and increased patient satisfaction with HIV counseling services. Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health care program. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, multi-specialty, group-practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 8.2 million members in nine states and the District of Colombia. Today, it encompasses Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the Permanente Medical Groups. Kaiser Permanente has research centers in California, Colorado, Oregon, Hawaii, Georgia, Maryland, and Ohio. Results of research conducted by Kaiser Permanente physicians and investigators have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Permanente Journal, the American Journal of Public Health, Pediatrics, and other clinical journals.
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