Primary care physicians are getting assistance in making an early diagnosis and providing timely treatment for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, which affects about 3 million patients in the United States.
The pilot program, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will implement Project ECHO, a telemedicine approach designed to increase primary care capacity for treatment of HCV and access to HCV care in rural and underserved areas.
The CDC is working with the AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement® (PCPI) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to support the pilot program by facilitating integration of three measures from the PCPI hepatitis C measure set into electronic health records. The program will develop eMeasures and corresponding clinical decision support tools.
So far, 66 primary care physicians in Arizona and Utah, predominately from rural settings, have received training through the program. Almost none of the participants had prior experience in the care and treatment of HCV infection.
The participating physicians interacted with specialists via videoconference each week, allowing them to collaborate on HCV infection treatments and exchange clinical information and advice on patient management practices. Through the project, nearly one-half of the involved patients received antiviral treatment, suggesting that the pilot is an effective model that can be used to expand primary care capacity to treat HCV populations.
Annual health care costs for HCV-infected patients are five times higher than those for other patients, according to the ONC.
“The hope is to facilitate not only measurement of provider performance but improvement in access to care for underserved and other populations facing barriers to HCV testing, care and treatment,” the ONC said.
Learn more about the PCPI, a national physician-led program dedicated to enhancing quality and patient safety.
