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Ideas and Opinions |17 July 2018

A Novel Strategy for Increasing Access to Treatment for Hepatitis C Virus Infection for Medicaid Beneficiaries

Neeraj Sood, PhD; Diane Ung, JD; Anil Shankar, JD; Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH

Article, Author, and Disclosure Information
Author, Article, and Disclosure Information
This article was published at Annals.org on 15 May 2018.
  • University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California (N.S.)
    Foley & Lardner, Los Angeles, California (D.U., A.S.)
    Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey (B.L.S.)

    Financial Support: None.

    Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M18-0186.

    Corresponding Author: Neeraj Sood, PhD, University of Southern California, Verna & Peter Dauterive Hall 210, 635 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089-3333; e-mail, nsood@healthpolicy.usc.edu.

    Current Author Addresses: Dr. Sood: University of Southern California, Verna & Peter Dauterive Hall 210, 635 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089-3333.

    Ms. Ung and Mr. Shankar: Foley & Lardner LLP, 555 South Flower Street, Suite 3500, Los Angeles, CA 90071-2411.

    Dr. Strom: Rutgers University, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Stanley S. Bergen Building, 65 Berge Street, Newark, NJ 07103.

    Author Contributions: Conception and design: N. Sood.

    Analysis and interpretation of the data: N. Sood, D. Ung.

    Drafting of the article: N. Sood, D. Ung, A. Shankar.

    Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: N. Sood, D. Ung, B.L. Strom.

    Final approval of the article: N. Sood, B.L. Strom.

    Administrative, technical, or logistic support: A. Shankar.

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FULL TEXT
An estimated 2.7 to 3.9 million persons in the United States were living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in 2015 (1). The annual death toll from this condition in the United States exceeds that from HIV and 59 other infectious diseases combined (2). The good news is that curative treatments first introduced in 2013 have achieved a sustained virologic response rate greater than 90% and that sustained virologic response is associated with lower mortality among patients with chronic hepatitis (3, 4). In response, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a committee of experts to develop a national strategy for eliminating HCV infection as a public health problem. The report concluded that these new treatments could avert nearly 30 000 deaths and reduce incidence of this condition by 90% by 2030 (5).
To meet this goal, the report advocated treating everyone—without regard to disease stage—with the new treatment regimen. However, treatment costs tens of thousands of dollars per patient, making it unaffordable for most patients and insurers. The problem is especially acute for the most vulnerable populations. Approximately 700 000 persons in state Medicaid programs and prisons are eligible for treatment, but only approximately 20 000 (fewer than 3%) will receive treatment each year (5). This situation is partly due to restrictions imposed by many states on accessing the drugs, including requirements that Medicaid beneficiaries have a certain state of hepatic fibrosis, limitations on who...
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Sood N, Ung D, Shankar A, et al. A Novel Strategy for Increasing Access to Treatment for Hepatitis C Virus Infection for Medicaid Beneficiaries. Ann Intern Med. [Epub ahead of print 15 May 2018]169:118–119. doi: 10.7326/M18-0186

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Published: Ann Intern Med. 2018;169(2):118-119.

DOI: 10.7326/M18-0186

Published at www.annals.org on 15 May 2018

©
2018 American College of Physicians
3 Citations

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