Hepatitis C

Hepatitis B and C prevention programs improve detection, treatment, and liver outcomes, but screening, care access, and implementation gaps remain.

Expanded coverage under a Medicare-Medicaid partnership to treat all prevalent cases of hepatitis C appears to be cost-effective by saving money and improving patient outcomes.

Two Americans and a British scientist share the 2020 Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work in the 1970s through the 1990s. The rise of agents to treat hepatitis C virus has created vexing questions in managed care.

Despite being at an increased risk for HIV and hepatitis C, persons who inject drugs (PWID) are tested at dismal rates for both: just 8.6% and 7.7%, respectively, according to data from 2010 to 2017. PWID who live in rural communities are more likely to face barriers to adequate testing and care for both diseases.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has contributed to more US patient deaths than the next 60 reportable infectious diseases combined. The United States Preventive Services Task Force has issued updated guidelines on screening for HCV that account for the larger proportion of this patient group that now includes persons who inject drugs, as well as the shift from interferon-based therapy to regimens composed of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications.

Real-world discontinuation of hepatitis C drugs was low, but it was 3 times more likely than in clinical trials and varied by patient characteristics.

Rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment in a commercially insured population doubled after availability of new direct-acting antivirals. Member out-of-pocket spending was kept low while the health plan bore 99% of spending on HCV medications.

Maine wants to take more control over its Affordable Care Act marketplace; Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, has issued an advisory against marijuana use in young people and pregnant people; the FDA is warning of rare occurrences of serious liver injury from use of 3 hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs.

The August issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on surprise medical billing policies, social determinants of health, and the value of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, among other topics. Here are 5 findings from research published in the issue.

Late hepatitis C virus infection diagnosis points to a need for earlier screening and treatment before the onset of severe liver disease leading to high cost and diminished outcomes.

From 2013 to 2017, the population of US patients prescribed treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) changed, becoming predominantly treatment-naïve and having received care in nonacademic centers.

CMS has approved Washington state’s proposal for a subscription model to purchase hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs; the American Medical Association (AMA) voted against a measure that would drop its decades-long stance against single-payer healthcare proposals; Maine has become the eighth state to legalize medically assisted suicide.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that hepatitus C infection may be a risk factor for developing Parkinson disease.

After a rural syringe service program was indefinitely suspended, individuals who inject drugs had a greater risk of contracting HIV and hepatitus C virus.

Here are 5 interesting findings from the February 2019 issue of AJMC®.

The February 2019 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on value-based arrangements, effects of cesarean delivery data, and more. Here are 5 findings from the research published in the issue.

In 2010, OxyContin was reformulated and an abuse-deterrent version was introduced, leading to an increase in heroin use and subsequent rise in hepatitis C infection rates.

The Medicaid population has significantly higher hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence and mortality rates than patients with private insurance. These data must be considered when policy makers assess providing additional support to Medicaid programs for HCV elimination.

A recent study looked to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment in patients with genotype 1 (HCV-1) infection.

Patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) who are on Medicaid in Oregon can expect to receive curative treatment in 2019 without having to wait for liver damage to set in.

The efficacy and safety of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P, sold as Mavyret) in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has previously only been investigated in clinical trials. Thus far, no real-world data had been available until a group of researchers looked to investigate the efficacy and safety of G/P in a real-world setting in Italy.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most frequently reported bloodborne infection in the United States, and prevalence has increased in recent years. Researchers recently sought to estimate the prevalence of HCV at the state level in order to more accurately guide prevention and care efforts.

Existing data are limited on the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients with cancer. In a study recently published in Nature, researchers sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a sofosbuvir (Sovaldi)-based therapy in this patient population.

A combined analysis of data gathered from the Canadian Health Measures Survey and the US–National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found a 2.5% to 3.5% increase in the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with a hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

A kidney transplant patient treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection showed reactivation of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which proved fatal. The authors of the report recommend a call to action for including HBV testing as part of the patient’s work-up in transplant recipients who are on immunosuppressants, especially in the context of abnormal liver tests.

A recent retrospective review of patients who contracted hepatitis C (HCV) in childhood found that those with perinatal infection developed cirrhosis earlier than other risk groups.

To better understand the characteristics of patients with chronic kidney disease who require hemodialysis or renal transplant, researchers in Brazil evaluated the prevalence of resistance-associated substitutions to direct-acting antivirals in this population who also carry the hepatitis C virus (HCV).