On National HIV Testing Day, SAMHSA Encourages Everyone at Risk for HIV to Get Tested
Impact on your practice
This is public health awareness content about HIV testing, not a policy change affecting mental health practice. While therapists may serve HIV-positive clients, this messaging does not impact billing, licensing, insurance coverage, or clinical operations.
Key facts
SAMHSA encourages HIV testing on National HIV Testing Day
CDC recommends all ages 13-64 get tested at least once
Public health messaging focused on testing as self-care
No policy or operational changes for therapists
Therapy Companion analysis
This SAMHSA messaging does not create direct operational or billing changes for your practice, but it signals an expectation that will increasingly appear in grant requirements and payer contracts. If your agency receives any SAMHSA funding—whether for substance use treatment, mental health services, or integrated care—HIV testing integration is already a requirement for some grants and will likely expand. You should audit your current practice protocols: Are you offering or referring for HIV testing as part of routine intake? Are staff trained on CDC HIV screening guidelines? If you treat clients with concurrent mental illness and substance use disorders, you are working with a higher-risk population where testing should be normalized. The practical impact is modest if you're a solo therapist in private practice with no grant funding, but significant if you work in an agency setting, run a clinic, or bill Medicaid extensively. Agencies receiving SAMHSA dollars should document HIV testing protocols in their clinical policies and ensure staff competency. This is moving from optional best practice to compliance expectation. Your documentation should reflect that HIV risk was assessed and testing offered—not necessarily completed, but offered and documented as refused or accepted.
Background
SAMHSA is using National HIV Testing Day (June 27) as a platform to reinforce a long-standing but increasingly formalized expectation: mental health and substance use providers must integrate HIV testing into routine care. The backdrop is CDC data showing that people with mental illness and/or substance use disorders face elevated HIV transmission risk, yet remain undertested. COVID-19 disrupted testing access during 2020-2021, creating a testing backlog in vulnerable populations. SAMHSA is now pushing its grant ecosystem—which includes most community mental health centers, nonprofit treatment agencies, and safety-net providers—to make testing routine rather than reactive. This reflects a public health strategy shift from 'testing by risk profile' to 'testing as standard care' for populations with mental health and addiction diagnoses, mirroring how routine TB or STI screening works in primary care.
What you should do
Review your agency's SAMHSA grant terms (if applicable) to determine whether HIV testing integration is already contractually required; if so, document your current compliance status and gaps
Audit your clinical intake protocols: Are you assessing HIV risk and documenting whether testing was offered? If not, add a 1-2 line item to your intake or screening form and train staff on CDC screening guidelines
If you work in a clinic or agency setting, confirm staff has access to training on HIV pre- and post-test counseling; SAMHSA explicitly mentions CME training expectations
For agency directors: Establish a referral pathway or in-house testing access (self-test kits are inexpensive and confidential); decide whether to offer rapid testing on-site or refer to CDC Get Tested locator
Ensure compliance documentation is in place for audits: intake notes should reflect HIV risk assessment and testing disposition (offered/refused/completed) to demonstrate you are meeting SAMHSA best practice expectations
Notable excerpts
People with mental illness and/or substance use disorder are at increased risk of getting and transmitting HIV. SAMHSA's substance use and mental health grant recipients and partner organizations can reach people at risk for or living with HIV to encourage testing.
SAMHSA has long encouraged substance use disorder and mental health treatment providers to integrate HIV testing into routine care. In fact, it is a requirement for some of SAMHSA's grants.
SAMHSA encourages grant recipients to follow CDC's HIV testing guidelines for clinical settings, complete CME training on HIV screening, and distribute HIV self-testing kits.
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