How about telling the board about your adventures in the hot tub?

How about the gal that wouldn't leave your apartment?

The board hasn't heard those stories in some time.  They're fun to rehash.

then they follow-up with you and contact partners?  Or am I FOS?

read the fine print on your health care insurance.

Many if not most allow them to disseminate your information for a wide variety of reasons, and to update this policy without you giving specific right to opt out, only notification in the form of a mailing that is too often discarded with your junk mail.

If you want real anonymous testing, pay for it yourself at a clinic that is known for its discretion.

In practical use, it throws up obstacles to your own access to information and your family's access, but when the chips are down, all it takes is a careless clerk to spill your beans.  If you have a significant other, there is always the risk that a health insurance benefits communication, medical bill, or doctor's communication might fall into their hands.  Even "confidential" health clinics often reserve the right, or even tell you upfront that they have an obligation, to report HIV positive results to certain agencies or organizations. In my view, best shot at anonymity is to go to a community STD clinic (some originated as serving the gay community) and use a handle, give them your burner phone number, etc.  BTW I once went to Planned Parenthood for testing and was shocked at how much personal information they demanded.

Safety and security fears are real and keep people from going to get tested.  

I think we should recognize that and try to help them find a safer option rather than try to convince someone who already has fears that it is safe.    

First--Its an entirely different thing finding a place to test where you are just one in hundreds that walk through daily--as in Chicago-- than in other smaller communities where you might personally know a number of people who work there.      
   
And Mr. Fisher does a nice job of pointing out agreements you have with your health insurer that allow them to pass on information to people you may not want to see it, like your employer should the need arise.  

Then there's the whole human nature thing.  Like any law HIPPA works only as well as the honesty of the people other than yourself you have to count on to keep it private.  

In my experience medical providers do take it seriously, but primarily do so to protect themselves.  And it's that self preservation on their part that can get you into trouble.  Used to be only your doc and your pharmacist might have some idea of what is going on unless someone intentionally snooped through your records.  

To protect themselves from getting sued for faulty care more and more places print out a page of all your maladies and the drugs you take for them for you to review when you check in to the place.  That means that all that private info is first seen by a non professional checking you in. And if that gets tossed in the trash, the janitor comes along with access to it too.   And the same info--all neatly packaged in a small place--is set up in their computer systems.  Any doc that leaves their screen on and doesn't close it out, the IT tech called in to fix a problem--do you really trust all of them?

We recently had a MAJOR health insurance provider on the news for employing a nurse that was canned by a couple of different hospitals for stealing patients drugs and info.  That person was for a long time in a position of having direct access to private patient records.  And amazingly he is still employed by them, though shifted to a new position.  The insurer--again this one is huge, recognized nation wide--actually made claims counter to what HIPPA requires in order to protect it's own backside

1. they charge $200 for an HIV test? GTFOH.  You can get an HIV rapid test for free.  
2. Say you did get a positive result back for Chlamydia, syphilis, or gonorrhea, or any of the other STIs they test for.  How would you be prescribed medications? Chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea tests often take 2 weeks to yield results, and most doctors place their patients on a slightly wider spectrum antibiotic that will take care of whatever problem you have.  How does this happen with the website in question?  If you DO happen to have something far more serious like HSV or HIV, you'll need to discuss therapies with your physician right away, and they'll probably re-test you.  Money wasted.  

quite frankly, if a person is concerned enough to be tested, you should be tested live (as in "in-person").  The HIV test results literally take no more than 20 minutes, and as for the others, if you suspect you've got something going on, a physician can prescribe treatment for you to begin immediately.

and it get into the doctor's computer database and your medical insurer's database, it will follow you the rest of your life.  I'm not an expert on divorce (so far) but wonder whether this kind of stuff gets aired during a divorce, regardless of HIPAA.

Clinton? ... Mr. William Clinton? ... Mr. William, Bill, Clinton?