New AIDS Treatment Information Service, 800/HIV-0440

The AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS), sponsored by a
group of several U.S. Public Health Service agencies, is
providing information about AIDS treatments, based on
guidelines published by the Federal government. This service,
which is free and confidential, is open Monday through Friday
from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time, and can be reached at
800/HIV-0440 (800/448-0440); you can also send questions by
fax (301/738-6616) or by mail (ATIS, P.O. Box 6303,
Rockville, MD 20849-6303). ATIS can answer questions in
English or Spanish.

ATIS began operation on October 31. It joins a number of
other AIDS information sources provided by Federal agencies,
of which some of the most important are:

* The National AIDS Hotline -- 800/342-AIDS, 24 hours;
800/344-SIDA (Spanish speakers), 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern
time; 800/AIDS-TTY (TTY access for the deaf), 10 a.m. to 10
p.m. This hotline answers general questions about AIDS, and
can refer callers to service organizations in their area.

* The AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service (ACTIS) --
800/TRIALS-A (800/874-2572), Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to
7 p.m. Eastern time, which can provide information about
clinical trials in your area -- what drugs are being tested,
entry criteria, etc., and whom to call locally for further
information.

ATIS staff are working with these and other information
services to build a treatment information referral network,
which will be used to link callers to appropriate resources.

Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, M.D., urged "community-based
organizations and AIDS service organizations all over
American (to) help get the word out about ATIS."

The sponsoring agencies are: Agency for Health Care Policy
and Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health
Service, National Institutes of Health, and the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Comment

The organizers of ATIS asked this writer and others for input
and advice while designing this system. We believe that ATIS
can be important, but users need to understand its
limitations.

First, like any treatment information service, it can provide
information, but not treatment advice. The people answering
the phone are information specialists, not physicians; and
even physicians could not provide advice by phone without
examining the patient or getting a medical history.

A more serious limitation is that ATIS can only provide
Federally-published information; otherwise there would be
endless uncertainty about what could and what could not be
included. But Federal AIDS information is extensive --
including, for example, the treatment guidelines of the
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), articles
in the MMWR SERIES (MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT,
published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention), and U.S. National Institutes of Health consensus
statements. ATIS will also refer callers to non-Federal
agencies when appropriate, as the National AIDS Hotline
commonly does.