Recent research has shown that CD4 monitoring may not be needed in clinically stable, virally suppressed HIV-infected patients, but new evidence goes further to show that there is potential for substantial savings by at least reducing this monitoring. According to a research letter published Oct. 14 in JAMA Internal Medicine, cutting CD4 monitoring from biannual to annual could result in up to $18 million of savings annually and up to $615 million over the lifetime of patient care. In 2013, guidelines for HIV care from the Department of Health and Human Services recommend CD4 monitoring every six to 12 months in clinically stable patients with suppressed viral load (no detectable HIV RNA in blood) while on anti-retroviral treatment. “I look at this ‘every 6 to 12 months’ frequency as a gentle way of trying to wean us off a monitoring strategy we have had now since the 1980s. Both patients and providers are so accustomed to regular CD4 monitoring that it seems too difficult to stop doing it cold turkey,” writes Paul Sax, M.D., Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, in an editorial published inClinical Infectious Disease in May. Experts say that despite the recommendations, clinicians are still performing CD4 […]