Treating chronic hepatitis C in the primary care setting.
The National Institutes of Health and other institutions have emphasized the need to expand access to treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection to a larger and more diverse patient population. To begin to address this need, the divisions of General Internal Medicine and Liver Diseases of the Mount Sinai Medical Center created a program to identify patients who might benefit from hepatitis C treatment, to treat uncomplicated patients in the primary care setting, and to refer appropriate patients to liver disease specialists. Preliminary data from this program suggest that primary care-based treatment of chronic hepatitis C may offer unique advantages. The primary care setting allows special needs to be addressed and allows comprehensive services to be provided. Patients are guided through the complex pretreatment evaluation process, and non-liver-related comorbidities are managed. Our program may provide a useful model for increasing hepatitis C literacy among primary care providers and for extending treatment to a broader population of patients with hepatitis C.
McGinn
Thomas G
TG
Division of General Internal Medicine, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. thomas.mcginn@mountsinai.org
Gardenier
Donald
D
McGinn
Lata K
LK
Alfandre
David
D
O'Connor-Moore
Nicola
N
Sturm
Toni M
TM
Schiano
Thomas D
TD
Reichman
Stanley
S
D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000592:standards; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards