Bill would authorize partners’ STD treatment

The Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony Feb. 24 on a bill that would allow expedited partner therapy (EPT) for the treatment of a sexually transmitted disease.

Under LB304, sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill, a physician, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse who diagnoses certain STDs in a patient would be allowed to prescribe or dispense oral antibiotics to that patient’s sexual partner or partners without an examination.

Current law is ambiguous as to whether EPT is allowed in Nebraska, McGill said, so the bill is intended to make the practice expressly permissible.

EPT protocol has existed for approximately 70 years and has been shown to reduce reinfection rates and increase the likelihood of partner notification, she said. Very few adverse reactions to the oral antibiotics used to treat STDs have been reported, she said, and all were minor.

“There have been no cases of any serious reaction in the entire country,” McGill said.

Adi Pour of the Douglas County Health Department testified in support of the bill, saying the county needs more options to address STDs. The county officially declared an epidemic in 2004, she said, and rates of Chlamydia and gonorrhea in the county remain 70 percent higher than in the rest of Nebraska.

LB304 would allow health care providers to reach partners of an infected patient without those individuals being required to seek treatment on their own, she said.

“About one third of the partners that we identify, we can never find,” Pour said.

Tracy Durbin of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland also testified in support, saying untreated STDs can cause long-term illness, infertility and death. EPT programs in other states have led to significant increases in the number of partners of infected patients being treated, she said.

“Studies show that most patients prefer to notify partners themselves,” Durbin said.

John Lindsay, representing the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys, testified against LB304, citing concern over the bill’s immunity provision for health care providers. Allowing providers to prescribe medication for partners without an examination carries a risk of adverse reactions and outcomes, he said.

“This protects all carelessness with respect to that unidentified third person,” Lindsay said.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.