Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Hepatitis C Elimination topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State'led hepatitis C elimination plan reports treatment gains but thousands remain untreated
Summary
Anthony James reported the state's hepatitis C elimination efforts have treated 16,723 people since 2019, expanded prescribing providers from about 60 to 975, and shown strong SVR outcomes, but roughly 6,546 Medicaid enrollees with positive RNA remain untreated and regional gaps persist.
Anthony James presented the Louisiana Hepatitis C Elimination Plan update, outlining progress and remaining gaps as the commission met Oct. 8.
James summarized the plan's six strategies: an innovative payment model, public education about cure availability, expanded screening and linkage (including in corrections), strengthened surveillance and "data to care" systems, provider-capacity expansion, and harm-reduction and complementary treatment strategies. He said the state's innovative payment approach primarily targets Medicaid enrollees and people in Department of Corrections custody.
Since the plan's July 2019 launch, James said 16,723 people have accessed hepatitis C treatment: 14,252 in the Medicaid population and 2,471 within the Department of Corrections. "Prior to the launch of the state's hepatitis C elimination plan there were about 60 providers prescribing direct-acting antivirals; now that number has grown to 975," he said, noting continued shortages in rural areas.
James presented the treatment cascade: 11,359 people started treatment; 10,118 completed treatment; 8,642 underwent sustained virologic response (SVR) testing; and 7,742 achieved SVR. He emphasized that although overall cure rates are high, subgroups show gaps: persons with indications of substance use disorder had lower SVR achievement (63%) compared with those without such indications (72%), and some public-health regions (notably regions 8 and 9 in his presentation) exhibited lower SVR completion.
James also said about 6,546 Medicaid enrollees had positive hepatitis C RNA but remained untreated, and the program is working with managed-care organizations to identify and engage those patients through case management.
He and Dr. Burgess stressed that expanded testing (beginning after the 2019 reporting change) helped identify more people and supported the pipeline to treatment; James noted work with researchers that found early SVR4 testing can be a pragmatic proxy for SVR12 in some contexts.
What's next: James said the innovative payment model has been extended for Medicaid and corrections, and the program will continue provider expansion, targeted regional efforts, combined surveillance and linkage strategies, and harm-reduction services to reach untreated populations.
