Author information

1 Eisenhower Health, United States of America. Electronic address: dgardenier@gmail.com.

2 New York Harm Reduction Educators, United States of America.

3 Mount Sinai Health System, United States of America.

4 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States of America.

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus is a blood borne pathogen that infects 130 million people worldwide. After a prolonged period of slowly progressive liver injury, those infected are at risk of advancing to end stage liver disease, with its associated complications, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Rates of past and/or current substance use and behavioral comorbidities are higher among those infected with hepatitis C compared to the general population. A number of patient, provider and system barriers to care and treatment have led to low rates of treatment initiation in this population despite pharmacologic advances that have made hepatitis C a curable disease. Innovation in care delivery is considered a key strategy that will help reach more patients. We present three case studies of patients with chronic hepatitis C and multiple psychiatric comorbidities who were successfully engaged in care and treated for their chronic hepatitis C in our multidisciplinary primary care-based program.