Expedited Partner Therapies (EPT) and Legal Challenges 

Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in collaboration with researchers at CDC and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, James G. Hodge Jr. and research team members have completed both stages of this project.
EPT refers to the delivery of medications or prescriptions to patients treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (principally Chlamydia and gonorrhea) for distribution to their current sexual partners without independent clinical assessment of the partners. 

During the first stage of the project, researchers focused on identifying the legality of EPT. This resulted in the characterization of laws concerning EPT implementation, including state laws which expressly permitted or prohibited EPT, in 50 states and select territories. Results of this legal assessment are posted on CDC’s EPT website and published in an article in the American Journal of Public Health and other resources.  

In the second stage, the team focused on identifying legal barriers to implementing EPT in practice or that may impede adoption of new laws and policies authorizing its practice.  

Additionally, the team developed tools for use by states to address these barriers, titled Legal Policy Toolkit for Adoption and Implementation of Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT).