News

On October 30, President Obama signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (S. 1793), which includes language requiring medical facilities to notify emergency responders that have been exposed to a potentially life-threatening infectious disease by contact with a patient during emergency response. The bill, which was passed by the Senate on October 19 and the House on October 21, also requires hospitals to inform emergency responders that are concerned that they may have been exposed to a potentially life-threatening infectious disease through contact with a patient, whether or not they need to be tested.

 

The primary focus of the Ryan White Reauthorization Act is the reauthorization of a grant program that provides funding to state and local health organizations for the purpose of treating and preventing the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus. The emergency responder notification provisions in S. 1793 were in law before 2006, when they were eliminated in legislation reauthorizing the Ryan White Act. Restoration of emergency responder notification has been one of the NVFC’s top legislative priorities in this Congress.

 

“I am very pleased that Congress has decided to renew this important protection for our nation’s emergency responders,” said NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg. “The notification requirement means that our members can information quickly and potentially avoid engaging in unwarranted, time consuming and costly treatments and tests if they are concerned that they may have been exposed to a communicable disease in the line of duty.”