Clearway Health White Paper: Towards Eliminating Hepatitis C as a Public Health Threat in the United States

Key Takeaways

• Health system specialty pharmacies play a critical role in hepatitis C elimination efforts
  Integrated pharmacy teams can leverage electronic medical records to improve screening, education and early identification—helping close the gap in undiagnosed hepatitis C infections.

• Coordinated pharmacy-led programs improve the full hepatitis C care pathway
  From expanding testing in high-risk communities to streamlining diagnosis, treatment initiation and adherence support, specialty pharmacies reduce drop-off across the care continuum and improve cure rates.

• Clinical pharmacist-led models increase access, affordability, and treatment success
  By removing barriers to care through patient support programs, telemedicine and provider collaboration, health system specialty pharmacies help more patients complete therapy and achieve sustained virologic cure.
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common blood borne infection in the United States. The majority (80%) of those with the infection will progress into developing persistent viremia (chronic infection).¹ A recent study shows 1 in 3 adults in the United States are not aware of their potentially life-threatening infection.²   Successful hepatitis C treatment eliminates the constant viral insult to the liver and allows the liver to regenerate.

Health system specialty pharmacy role in hepatitis C elimination

Since health system specialty pharmacies have access to and work inside an integrated Electronic Medical Record, they have a unique opportunity to contribute towards achieving the national goals of eliminating hepatitis C as a threat to public health through:

·        Patient Education and Engagement to increase public awareness on the need for hepatitis C screening and current treatment options

·        Expanding Testing Services and making them easily available to high-risk communities

·        Streamlining the Treatment Plan for a seamless transition from diagnosis to linkage to care path

·        Developing Patient Support programs to make hepatitis C treatment readily accessible and affordable

·        Maximizing Treatment Completion and cure rates though patient engagement and providing medication adherence and adverse effect management services via          telemedicine

·        Partnering with Primary Care Provider Offices to make sure patients follow through their cure confirmation laboratory studies

The Clearway Health Approach

Clearway Health partners with hospitals and health systems to accelerate their specialty pharmacy programs and operationalize clinical programs like hepatitis C screening and treatment. We have developed a clinical pharmacist-led hepatitis C program that eliminates barriers to testing services, medication access and affordability, and minimizes the attrition from initial diagnosis to linkage to care through:

·        Making hepatitis C screening service accessible and convenient

·        Minimizing attrition in the hepatitis C treatment cascade

·        Increasing hepatitis C medication access and cure rate

For more information on Clearway Health’s hepatitis C approach, please read the full white paper here.

References

1.       Kamal SM. Acute hepatitis C: a systematic review. Am J Gastroenterol. 2008; 103(5):1283-1297; quiz 1298.doi:10.1111/j.1572-0241.2008.01825.x

2.       Lewis KC, Barker LK, Jiles RB, Gupta N. Estimated Prevalence and Awareness of Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among US Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, January 2017–March 2020. ClinInfect Dis. 2023; 77(10):1413-1415. doi:10.1093/cid/ciad411