CDC opens consultation hotline for HIV prevention pill

The CDC has launched a national consultation service for clinicians prescribing pre-exposure prophylaxis, according to a press release.

The Clinician Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Hotline, or PrEPline, is a toll-free resource for information about the daily HIV prevention pill. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to significantly reduce the risk for HIV infection among adult men and women at substantial risk for HIV infection through sex or injected drug use, according to the release.

PrEPline is aimed toward physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants providing primary care to uninfected patients with high risk. The phone service is staffed by experienced clinicians and offers written and online checklists, guidelines and other informational materials.

“PrEP is a powerful HIV prevention tool that has the potential to alter the course of the US epidemic if its use is increased among patients who are at substantial risk for HIV infection,” Dawn Smith, MD, MPH, of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC, said in a statement. “By offering free, expert advice based on the new federal guidelines to clinicians, including those who may not have experience prescribing antiretroviral medications, PrEPline will ensure clinicians across the country have timely access to the information they need to get PrEP into the hands of their patients.”

The service is funded by the CDC and will be implemented in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s national Clinician Consultation Center at University of California, San Francisco.

PrEPline is open to calls from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, and can be reached at 855-448-7737.

For more information:

Visit the national Clinician Consultation Center website at http://nccc.ucsf.edu.