HIV Minimum Standards for Substance Use Disorder Programs

Overview:
HIV Minimum Standards is the annual HIV training every Minnesota substance use disorder treatment program must provide to its staff. Under Minn. Stat. 245A.19, licensed programs must orient staff and clients to the HIV minimum standards within 72 hours and deliver HIV in-service training to all staff at least once a year. Minn. Stat. 245A.19(d) directs that the commissioner — not statute or rule — defines the required content, and the commissioner did so in DHS Behavioral Health e-Memo #22-96 (08/16/2023), effective Jan. 1, 2024. This course is built to that e-memo and to the DHS/HMA guide it names, so completing it meets the annual requirement and doubles as the HIV portion of the 72-hour new-staff orientation.

Programs covered by the requirement: SUD treatment programs licensed under Minn. Stat. ch. 245G; children’s residential SUD programs under Minn. Rules ch. 2960; detoxification programs under Minn. Rules ch. 9530; and withdrawal management programs under Minn. Stat. ch. 245F. The audience is ALL substance use disorder treatment staff — 245A.19 is broader than “direct contact” roles.

Built directly from the DHS “HIV Training & Resources for Substance Use Disorder Programs,” the course covers all six mandated topics: HIV basics and why people with substance use disorder are disproportionately affected; HIV transmission and prevention through PrEP, PEP, testing, and treatment as prevention (undetectable equals untransmittable); the two-way link between substance use and HIV; harm reduction as shame reduction; opioid overdose prevention with naloxone; and resources for support with HIV or SUD, including AIDSLine and Fast-Tracker.

AGENCY INSERT — REQUIRED: The sixth mandated topic is program-specific. The course contains a dedicated agency insert slide and a matching fillable page in the Participant Guide where each program drops in its own written policies and procedures for working with clients who have HIV and referring them to individual HIV counseling and services, plus its current HIV referral list (updated at least annually). The annual training requirement is not satisfied until that insert is completed.

NOTE — this course does NOT satisfy Minn. Stat. 245A.242. The naloxone content here is conceptual, as DHS requires within HIV training. Hands-on opioid antagonist training in the specific mode of administration the program stocks is a separate requirement met by CareCertify course OAT-01.

Staff finish able to give clients accurate, stigma-free HIV information and connect them to testing, counseling, and support through the program’s referral resources. Each completion produces a certificate and a training/attendance log entry — 245A.19 requires the license holder to maintain records of training AND attendance.