Health Care Provider Resources to Increase Hepatitis C Treatment

September 14, 2022

Dear Colleague:

Over 2 million adults in the United States have hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and new infections continue to rise. Left untreated, hepatitis C can cause advanced liver disease, liver cancer, and death. Hepatitis C is curable in more than 95% of cases. People who test positive for hepatitis C should be treated with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications to prevent liver damage and further spread.

An estimated 40 percent of adults in the United States are unaware of their infection with hepatitis C. To increase the number people tested and treated, CDC released updated CDC Recommendations for Hepatitis C Screening Among Adults in April 2020, following the March 2020 release of an updated US Preventive Services Task Force Final Recommendation Statement: Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Adolescents and Adults: Screening | United States Preventive Services Taskforce (uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org). Both recommend hepatitis C screening of all adults at least once in their lifetime and of pregnant persons during each pregnancy, as well as periodic testing for everyone with risk factors.

Safe and effective DAAs for hepatitis C have been available since 2014, yet few people receive treatment within one year of diagnosis. Recommendations for Testing, Managing, and Treating Hepatitis C | HCV Guidance (hcvguidelines.org) from the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease and the Infectious Disease Society for America are available to provide easier and faster access to hepatitis C care and management guidance. Expanding treatment for all people with hepatitis C is essential to reducing viral hepatitis-related disparities and eliminating hepatitis C as a national public health threat.

Earlier this month, CDC released new findings from a Vital Signs report that showed only about one in three people with hepatitis C infection and insurance receive treatment within a year of diagnosis. The report calls for health care providers, insurers, policy makers, and public health professionals to improve access to treatment for all people with hepatitis C. Two key strategies are to: 1) provide treatment where people with hepatitis C receive other services, such as primary care offices, community clinics, syringe services programs, substance use treatment centers, and correctional facilities; and 2) increase the number of primary care providers treating hepatitis C. To support health care providers with tools and resources, CDC offers:

Provider Education Resources

• Learn more about hepatitis C and about getting tested | CDC
  CDC’s Know More Hepatitis campaign, a national multi-media education campaign, is designed to help implement CDC’s 2020 screening and testing recommendation by encouraging primary care and prenatal care providers to test all adult and pregnant patients for hepatitis C.
• Hepatitis C Online (uw.edu)
  Learn the latest guidance for screening diagnosing, monitoring, and managing hepatitis C virus infection. This comprehensive online training, funded by the CDC, is developed and maintained by the University of Washington (UW) National Hepatitis Training Center. Free CME credits and CE contact hours available.
• Hepatitis C Management | National Clinician Consultation Center (ucsf.edu) The National Clinical Consultation Service, funded by HRSA and implemented by the University of California, San Francisco, is available for clinician-to-clinician advice on hepatitis C management.

Related Publications

• Characteristics of Persons Treated for Hepatitis C Using National Pharmacy Claims Data, United States, 2014–2020 | Clinical Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic (oup.com) (Not available through Open Access)
• Treating Medicaid patients with hepatitis C: clinical and economic impact – PubMed (nih.gov) 
• A minimal monitoring approach for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection (ACTG A5360 [MINMON]): a phase 4, open-label, single-arm trial – ScienceDirect 
• Interventions to enhance testing, linkage to care, and treatment initiation for hepatitis C virus infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis – ScienceDirect

We need your help to ensure that every person with hepatitis C has timely access to life-saving curative treatment. The resources and publications shared here can help you to integrate hepatitis C screening and treatment into your practice. CDC welcomes the opportunity to work together with you, the nation’s health care providers, to increase the number of people cured of hepatitis C, thereby reducing transmission, preventing cancer and other severe liver disease, and saving lives.

/Carolyn Wester/

Carolyn Wester, MD, MPH
Director
Division of Viral Hepatitis
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

/Jonathan Mermin/

Jonathan H. Mermin, MD, MPH
Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH (RADM, USPHS)
Director
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stay connected: @DrMerminCDC & Connections