INTRODUCTION: Mortality associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is increasing, yet only a small percentage of HCV-infected individuals are aware of their infections, complete treatment, and achieve a cure, defined as a sustained virologic response. In March 2015, the Section of General Internal Medicine at Boston Medical Center (BMC), New England’s largest safety-net hospital, implemented the Adult Primary Care HCV Treatment and Triage Program to increase access to treatment. We are unaware of prior studies that have explored a pharmacist-centered primary care-based HCV treatment model in the era of newer direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications.
OBJECTIVES: To gain a deeper understanding of the roles of each program staff member, as well as an understanding of how primary care providers (PCPs) who refer patients to the program perceive and interact with the program. Such an understanding will help promote implementation and dissemination of the program.
METHODS: We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with six staff members and with five PCPs in the Section of General Internal Medicine at BMC who refer patients to the program. We asked staff members about their roles and their perception of the program’s impact on patient linkage to HCV treatment. We probed PCPs about their experiences with HCV screening, referral, and follow-up processes, and differences in accessing HCV treatment for their patients prior to and following the implementation of the program. We audiotaped and transcribed interviews, and identified major themes through qualitative analysis.
RESULTS: We identified five major themes that characterize how the HCV treatment program delivers care: 1) efficiency (“So here I feel like…they get evaluated…they get treated. Boom, it’s done”); 2) clear and open communication (“…one of the strengths of our program is that we have…a lot of direct contact with patients…”); 3) personalized medicine (“…I've set up the pill box for them [patients]…we tailor it to whatever they need”); 4) high patient engagement (“So if I get a referral for a patient…I call the patient three times. If I haven’t heard from the patient…I send them a letter and I tell the PCP”); 5) patient empowerment through education (“I think patient education is the best thing…if the patient is involved then… they’ll do what they need to do”). Additionally, the public health social worker and the pharmacist play key roles in the program. The social worker supports patients throughout treatment and addresses psychosocial barriers to treatment engagement (“I had a patient…who stopped taking his medication because his apartment was infested with bed bugs…[Social worker] got the patient furniture for free and got an exterminator…”). The pharmacist provides medication management during face-to-face patient visits (“…I go over everything imaginable...proper adherence…adverse effects, interactions…”).
CONCLUSIONS: The HCV treatment program at BMC is a promising model to deliver HCV treatment to urban, underserved patient populations. Our findings suggest that public health social workers and pharmacists may be one approach to increasing access to HCV treatment in primary care settings in the era of DAA medications. Further study of the program’s efficacy in improving HCV outcomes is warranted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/23754 |
| Date | 12 July 2017 |
| Creators | Buczek, Magdalena Marta |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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