(a)  Every physician or healthcare provider attending any person for any service offered at a facility for injecting drug users, shall offer testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). All testing pursuant to this section shall be performed in accordance with the provisions of chapter 23-6.3 except where federal confidentiality laws may supersede.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-31.1

  • Person: means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies, and insurance companies), state, or political subdivision or instrumentality of a state. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-17-2

(b)  The department of health shall maintain sites for providing both anonymous and confidential HIV testing, and HIV counseling and referral. Each site, funded by the department of health, shall offer free testing, counseling and referral for indigent parties and other individuals without health insurance, offer a sliding scale for payment for all other individuals and, in the case of confidential testing, screen for ability to pay through a third-party insurer. In the case of nonfunded sites for HIV testing, organizations and/or institutions performing the test shall offer free testing, counseling and referral for indigent parties and other individuals without health insurance.

History of Section.
P.L. 1995, ch. 370, art. 14, § 18; P.L. 2006, ch. 599, § 7; P.L. 2009, ch. 196, § 7; P.L. 2009, ch. 289, § 7.