ReACH Center Publication Cited in Recent USPSTF Hepatitis C Screening Recommendation
Recently published data from the ReACH Center’s STOP HCC-HCV program was cited in the recently released US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Recommendation Statement supporting the expansion of screening for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection from baby boomers to adolescents and adults.
In March, the USPSTF issued new recommendations to screen all adults aged 18-79 for HCV. This recommendation is based off of a systematic review, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which reported that anti-viral therapies are very effective at curing patients, often short in course (8-12 weeks), and easily tolerated. These new guidelines are a tremendous step towards the elimination of a disease that leads to liver cancer and failure, but will require a lot of work to put into place in busy clinic settings. For several years, our team has been working with clinics across South Texas to build capacity for managing HCV. STOP HCC offers a model of clinic training, infrastructure, and tools to support these efforts in community care settings.
Learn more about how the STOP HCC-HCV program builds clinic capacity to screen, treat and manage HCV in primary care practices.