New Treatments Have Changed the Game: Hepatitis C Treatment in Primary Care

Abstract

In the pre-direct-acting antiviral era, hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatments were complex and largely managed by hepatologists, gastroenterologists, and infectious disease physicians. As direct-acting antivirals have driven up demand for treatment, the relative scarcity of these specialists has created a bottleneck effect, resulting in only a fraction of HCV-infected individuals offered treatment. The San Francisco Health Network is a safety net system of care. Its intervention was designed to be sustainable and scalable; with minimal time commitments for training providers, primary care-based HCV treatment increased 3-fold in a period of just over 3 years.

Keywords: Clinician training; HCV; Hepatitis C virus; Primary care; Primary care provider; Provider training; Treatment.