Before testing anyone for HIV, you must obtain written informed consent. Health care providers are permitted to include HIV test results and the signed consent form in the patient's medical record, even though this means disclosure without specific consent to hospital personnel with a need to know. Medical institutions should take special precautions to ensure that a patient's HIV status is not disclosed except as permitted under the law.
A separate consent form is necessary for transferring medical records containing HIV status information from one health care provider to another. Separate consent is not required for record transfer when the patient is being transferred to a different medical facility for the continuation of care. Under Massachusetts statute, no third-party payor or review organization may be privy to HIV test results without the patient's written informed consent.
An AIDS diagnosis or manifestations that associate a patient with AIDS are not protected by Massachusetts' HIV confidentiality law.