Now that antiretrovirals have given people with HIV the chance for an almost normal life span, the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America has urged clinicians to focus their energies outside the virus. Preventative care, including screening for high cholesterol, diabetes and osteoporosis, should move toward center stage, according to the HIVMA.

Describing the new guidelines as “incredibly exciting,” Tony Mills, MD, an HIV specialist in West Hollywood, says the shift “really reinforces what all of us have felt: that survival and our patients being immunocompromised and critically ill are all really part of the past. Our focus now is really on wellness and keeping people healthy.”

For those who have a well-controlled virus, the new guidelines also state that blood monitoring is only necessary every six to 12 months, instead of quarterly.