HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS
HB 1672
Title: An act relating to screening, counseling, and
treatment of hepatitis C in correctional facilities.
Brief Description: Requiring the department of corrections to
screen, test, and treat hepatitis C.
Sponsors:
Representatives O'Brien, Ballasiotes and Radcliff.
HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONS
Staff:
Yvonne Walker (786-7841).
Background:
Certain offenders are required to submit to
mandatory HIV testing as soon as possible after sentencing. Those subject to
mandatory testing include offenders convicted of sex offenses, prostitution,
and drug offenses involving use of hypodermic needles. Many other offenders
volunteer for HIV testing as the result of education and prevention programs
conducted in jails and prisons.
Current law also allows Department of Corrections
(DOC) officials and local jail administrators, with the approval of the local
public health officer, to order HIV testing when an inmate's actual or
threatened behavior presents a possible risk to staff, the public, or other
persons. In addition, a test may be ordered when a member of the staff has
experienced a substantial exposure to bodily fluids.
Results of voluntary testing may not be made
available to individual staff members unless the staff person has been
substantially exposed to the offender=s bodily fluids, in which case the staff person may
request that the offender be tested. The superintendent or administrator may
provide the staff member with information about how to obtain the offender=s test results. If a public health official refuses to order the
offender to be tested, the exposed person may petition the court directly.
Hepatitis.
The Department of Corrections is not required to provide Hepatitis C testing on
all incoming inmates entering the correctional system, however, they do subject
inmates to a urinalysis test, tuberculosis test, and a general blood cell
test.
Hepatitis
is a disease causing inflammation of the liver. This disease is more
infectious than AIDS and is transmitted through infected blood and other body
fluids (seminal fluid, vaginal secretions, breast milk, tears, saliva and open
sores).
People
who are exposed to blood or body fluids of an infected person are at risk. You
may also be at risk if you:
Care exposed to blood on the job ‑ first aid
or emergency worker, funeral director, police personnel, dentist or dental
assistant, medical personnel, etc.;
Clive in the same household with an infected person;
Chave sex with a carrier or chronically infected
person;
Cuse intravenous drugs;
Chave more than one sex partner;
Creceived a blood transfusion prior to 1975 (when a
test to screen blood was developed) or have hemophilia;
Cwork or are a patient in a health or long term care
facility;
Cwork or are incarcerated in a prison; or
Ctravel to countries with a high incidence of
hepatitis B.
Ethnic or racial groups with a high rate of
infection are: Blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, American Indians
and Alaskan Natives.
There are several different hepatitis viruses: A,
B, C, D, and E. They all attack the liver and can cause liver cell injury.
Summary:
Hepatitis. The Department of Corrections is required to
provide Hepatitis C testing on all inmates entering the correctional system.
The department will also provide notice of available Hepatitis C testing
throughout the prisons, and upon request, the tests must be given to any
current inmates and prison personnel. In cases where the initial test is
positive, one or more confirmatory tests must be given to ensure correct
results. Notification will be given to any inmate confirming positive with
Hepatitis C, as well as information as to the availability of treatment based
on the department=s protocols.
The department must also develop treatment criteria
for eligibility of inmates needing Hepatitis C treatment and protocols for the
treatment based on guidelines developed by prison health care organizations and
the community standard of care, including provisions of the Federal Food and
Drug Administration approved combination therapy.
Ongoing follow-up testing will be developed to
determine the impact of treatment on the Hepatitis C infection in inmates and
to determine, after no less than three months of treatment, whether to continue
a full course of treatment or suspend treatment. In addition, professional
training programs will be provided for corrections officers and other prison
personnel on currently understood risk factors, means of transmission,
detection, and treatment of Hepatitis C.
The department will report detected Hepatitis C
cases to the Department of Health and periodically report on the status of
Hepatitis C infection for inmates likely to be released within two years to the
community.
An annual statistical report on the prevalence of
Hepatitis C infection by correctional facility and trends in incidence and
prevalence of Hepatitis C infection in the correctional system must be provided
to the Legislature.
In addition, the Department of Corrections must
submit to the Legislature, by December 15, 1999, a report on how the department
manages Hepatitis C in the inmate population. Included in the report will be
how inmates are educated about the disease, how and when they are offered
testing, how the disease is managed if an inmate is determined to have Hepatitis
C, and an estimate of the number of inmates in the Washington prison system
with Hepatitis C. The report must also include recommendations to the
Legislature on ways to improve Hepatitis C disease management and what level of
funding would be necessary to appropriately test for and treat the disease.
Fiscal Note: Requested on February 10, 1999.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which
bill is passed.