For purposes of this subchapter the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “AIDS” shall mean Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, a stage of HIV illness.
(2) “Approved laboratory” shall mean a laboratory approved by the Department for the purpose of performing standard tests for HIV as recognized as such by the Department.
(3) “Clinical setting” shall mean prenatal clinics, hospital emergency departments, urgent care clinics, inpatient services, substance abuse treatment clinics, public health clinics, nursing homes, community clinics, correctional health-care facilities, blood banks, blood centers, sperm banks, primary care settings, and other public or private settings as defined by the Division.
(4) “Health-care provider” shall mean any nurse, physician, dentist or other dental worker, optometrist, podiatrist, chiropractor, laboratory or blood bank technologist or technician, phlebotomist, dialysis personnel, emergency health-care provider (including any paramedic, emergency medical technician, law-enforcement personnel or firefighter), others whose activities involve contact with patients, their blood or corpses, and other public or private providers as defined by the Division.
(5) “Health facility” shall mean a hospital, nursing home, clinic, blood bank, blood center, sperm bank, laboratory, or other health-care institution.
(6) “HIV” shall mean the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a virus that can be transmitted sexually and that is identified as the causative agent of AIDS.
(7) “HIV-related tests” shall mean HIV tests, CD4 cell count tests, viral load tests, or any other tests related to HIV.
(8) “HIV test” shall mean a test to detect HIV infection.
(9) “Informed consent” means consent of the subject of the test or subject’s legal guardian to the performance of HIV testing by a health-care provider who has informed the subject or the subject’s legal guardian both verbally and in writing, to an extent reasonably comprehensive to general lay understanding, of the nature of the proposed testing and of the risks and alternatives to testing which a reasonable person would consider material to the decision whether or not to undergo testing.
(10) “Invasive medical procedure” shall mean any procedure involving surgical entry into tissues, cavities, or organs.
(11) “Legal guardian” shall mean a person appointed by a court to assume legal authority for another who has been found incompetent or, in the case of a minor, a person who has legal custody of the minor.
(12) “Manner known to transmit HIV” shall mean parenteral exposure to blood or blood products including but not limited to injection through the skin, sexual exposure, or exposure as otherwise determined by the Division.
(13) “Nonclinical setting” shall mean community-based organizations (CBO), outreach and education settings, mobile vans, and other settings as defined by the Division.
(14) “Person” shall mean any natural person, partnership, association, joint venture, trust, public, or private corporation, or health facility.
(15) “Prevention counseling” shall mean an interactive process of assessing risk, recognizing specific behaviors that increase the risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV, and developing a plan to take specific steps to reduce risks.
(16) “Release of test results” shall mean a written authorization for disclosure of test results, which is signed, dated and specifies to whom disclosure is authorized and the time period during which the release is to be effective.
(17) “Routine/opt-out testing” shall mean that the general consent for medical care shall encompass testing for HIV and that testing may be performed as a part of routine care unless it is declined and that declination is noted in the medical record. A separate consent for HIV testing is not required.
(18) “Test counseling” shall include information that includes an explanation of the testing process/procedure, the meaning of possible test results, and provision of resources for additional information about relevant infections. The information may be provided orally or in writing and the subject of the counseling given the opportunity to ask questions.