Illinois Decides to Proceed with Named Reporting

Despite an outcry from opponents, the State of Illinois has decided to proceed with named reporting of positive HIV tests. In the past, positive HIV tests in Illinois were reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) using an anonymous code. Illinois along with about a dozen other states including California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia have been pressured by the CDC for some time to report by name. The CDC contends that named reporting assures there is no duplication of reports while increasing reporting accuracy.

Opponents to named reporting insist there is no evidence to support the CDC's claim that named reporting increases accuracy plus named reporting is a proven deterant to people getting tested.

Opponents also question what exactly is being measured by named reporting. Because named reporting does deter people from being tested in the first place, opponents believe named reporting is actually a measurement of HIV test prevalence not HIV infection prevalence. Their stance remains that anonymous reporting is a more accurate assessment of HIV infection because people get tested freely when the fear of named reporting is removed.

_{Source: Curtis, Christopher; "Illinois to Report Names of HIV Patients"; PlanetOut Network; December 28, 2005}