Distribution of health care expenditures for HIV-infected patients.

Background: Health care expenditures for persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United State determined on the basis of actual health care use have not been reported in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: Patients receiving primary care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham HIV clinic were included in the study. All encounters (except emergency room visits) that occurred within the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital System from 1 March 2000 to 1 March 2001 were analyzed.

HIV terms coverage by a commercial nomenclature.

A formal comparison of physician notes on HIV patients with MEDCIN was carried out. Terms from patient charts were divided into five groups: History, Physical Examination, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Doctor's Orders. Four types of matches were determined: Exact, Lexical, Semantic and No-Match.

Duration of highly active antiretroviral therapy regimens.

The median duration of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens was reported to be 11.8 months in one US study, but that study included both treatment-experienced and treatment-naive patients. The duration of initial HAART regimens for treatment-naive patients alone has not been reported.