8 The one-time birth cohort testing approach recommended in recent CDC guidelines would result in the testing of 66.9 million people, identifying 1.1 million treatment-eligible patients. The health care delivery implications of such a testing policy are substantial. In addition to any direct health care costs, there will be an inevitable increased demand for hepatology-specific manpower expertise. The disparity between the availability of appropriately trained
practitioners and the growing need for advanced hepatology care has been acknowledged.19 With the expansion of available treatment options, future therapy regimens will become increasingly individualized to specific patient characteristics, ensuring a continued need for specialist expertise. Any increased patient awareness selleck chemical of HCV infection status will inevitably place additional demands on health care providers. Furthermore, it is unclear how the timing of testing and treatment would impact cost-effectiveness; for example, following identification of subjects with chronic HCV infection, should treatment-eligible patients maintain watchful waiting or would immediate therapy optimize health outcomes? Defining “optimal” is also problematic; is the testing and treatment policy designed to minimize future HCV-related
complications, minimize therapy-related expenditure, Y-27632 chemical structure or maximize life years and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained? From a public health perspective, the emergence of novel therapeutic approaches to the treatment of HCV infection capable of achieving rates of sustained virological response approaching 100%, even in the most difficult-to-treat patients, means that altering the future transmission dynamics of the disease is entirely feasible.20 Importantly, selleckchem this development may modify the patient’s perspective on treatment initiation. The historic acceptance of watchful waiting, given the side effect and efficacy profile associated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, is understandable; however, presented with an awareness
of HCV infection plus the potential for a cure, it would be reasonable to expect that treatment uptake rates would increase among eligible patients. Treatment uptake and eligibility have important consequences for the future transmission dynamics of the disease in the United States; the widespread treatment of subjects with HCV has the potential to reduce future transmission patterns.20 It is noteworthy, however, that treatment strategies following testing may have a limited impact on the future dynamics of HCV infection, as it is those most likely to contribute to future HCV infections who are least likely to be eligible for treatment; such as persons who inject drugs, the homeless and the incarcerated.