title: ED-based screening programs for hepatitis C (HCV) highlight significant opportunity to identify patients, prevent downstream costs/complications.
abstract: New data suggest there is a huge opportunity for EDs to identify patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and link them into care before downstream complications lead to higher medical costs and adverse outcomes. Early results from a pilot study at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham show that at least 12% of the targeted baby boomer population being screened for HCV in the ED is testing positive for HCV, with confirmatory tests showing that about 9% of the screened population is infected with the disease. Both the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and the US Preventive Services Task Force recommend one-time HCV screening for patients who were born between 1945 and 1965. Public health experts say 75% of HCV infections occur in patients born during the baby boomer years, and that roughly half of them are unaware of their HCV status. Researchers at UAB report that so many patients are testing positive for HCV that demand for care can quickly overwhelm the health system if new primary care/specialty resources are not identified. Administrators of ED-based HCV screening programs in both Birmingham and Houston note that EDs with existing screening programs for HIV should have the easiest time implementing HCV screening. They also stress that patients are more accepting of HCV screening, and that the counseling process is easier.
mesh_terms: D003363:Cost Control; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology