CDC recently released Recommendations for Providing Quality Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinical Services, 2020 (or STD QCS). The goal of this report is to highlight the services healthcare settings can offer to provide the highest-quality STD care. This guidance can help healthcare facilities assess which STD care services they offer and identify opportunities to build, maintain or enhance those services. CDC hosted a webinar to overview the recommendations; the webinar recording, slides, and Q&A are available for viewing.
STD QCS is structured to provide recommendations based on clinical setting type—primary care or STD specialty care. While STD clinics remain a critical part of our healthcare infrastructure and public health STD prevention and control strategies, more and more Americans get tested and treated in other settings, including primary care, HIV care and family planning clinics. QCS was designed with this shift in mind and the reality that provision of service varies by setting type.
STD QCS recommendations are outlined in the following eight key sections:
- Sexual history and physical examination
- Prevention
- Screening
- Partner services
- Evaluation of STD-related conditions
- Laboratory
- Treatment
- Referral to a specialist for complex STD or STD-related conditions.
STD QCS is designed to work hand-in-hand with CDC’s 2015 STD Treatment Guidelines. While STD Treatment Guidelines guide clinical management of patients, the new STD QCS can help guide clinical operations. NACCHO is working with CDC to develop resources that local health department and other healthcare administrators and providers can use to assess their current services and help determine whether additional services could or should be made available for the patients they serve. Please stay tuned for more information on those.
