What is the Illinois Perinatal HIV Prevention Act?

The Perinatal HIV Prevention Act (410 ILCS 335/) aims to eliminate perinatal HIV transmission and serves as the legal basis for rapid HIV testing in Illinois. It was first passed in August 2003 as Public Act 93-566 and was amended in 2006 and 2007. The law was most recently amended in August 2017 by Public Act 100-0265 and mandates the following:

  1. Standardized and mandated counseling of all pregnant people.
  2. Opt-out HIV testing as early in pregnancy as possible.
  3. Repeat opt-out HIV testing during the third trimester, ideally by the 36th week of pregnancy (August 2017 amendment).
  4. Opt-out rapid HIV testing be offered on labor and delivery to people without a documented HIV test from the third trimester of the current pregnancy (August 2017 amendment).
  5. Mandatory rapid HIV testing of newborns to determine HIV-exposure if there is no documentation of maternal HIV testing during the third trimester of pregnancy or at delivery (June 2006/August 2017 amendments).
  6. Reporting of all preliminary positive rapid HIV tests on birthing parents and infants within 12 hours, but no later than 24 hours, of the test result to the 24/7 Illinois Perinatal HIV Hotline at 1-800-439-4079 to ensure medical consultation and linkage to case management (June 2006/August 2017 amendments).
  7. Documentation of HIV test results in prenatal, labor and delivery, and newborn pediatric charts.
  8. Hospitals submit monthly aggregate statistics that include the number of people who present with known positive HIV status, the number of pregnant people rapidly tested for HIV in L&D, the number of newborn infants rapidly tested for HIV, the number of preliminarily positive pregnant people and preliminarily HIV-exposed newborn infants identified and other information determined necessary.
  9. Hospitals report cases of perinatal HIV exposure of newborns.