This exciting grassroots initiative taps into the strengths and resources of communities in inner-city and metropolitan areas to provide effective therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive people who inject drugs (PWIDs). Live meetings for small, community-based groups of healthcare professionals will offer medical and addiction-services specialists cutting-edge strategies to collaboratively reach and treat HCV-positive PWIDs. Balancing clinical data with real-world experience and insights, these educational events will give participants the opportunity to interact directly with HCV and harm-reduction experts as well as resources to use and share in the practice setting. Strong local HCV-care networks will help build bridges to HCV-infected PWIDs and allow these high-risk individuals access to the care they need and deserve.
Goals of this educational initiative
Prepare community-based HCV treaters to provide effective therapy for
HCV-positive PWIDs
Increase HCV testing and treatment of PWIDs through proactive risk identification and
referral by addiction-services centers
Educate HCV-care specialists and addiction-services personnel regarding harm-reduction
principles and the prevention of HCV reinfection
Build linkages to HCV-care networks within local/regional systems, drive both high
treatment and high sustained viral response (SVR) rates, and decrease the incidence of
HCV infection/reinfection among PWIDs
content
Small-Group Training for Community-BASED HCV Treaters
Part 1: Keys to Successful Treatment of HCV in People Who Inject Drugs
- Barriers to treatment of HCV-positive PWIDs: Clinical assumptions and prescribing limitations
- Recent clinical evidence for the feasibility and success of treating HCV-positive PWIDs
- Real-world integration: Optimizing SVR in PWIDs
Part 2: Anatomy of Addiction
- The direct risks and clinical ramifications of injection practices
- A holistic approach to harm reduction
- Educating patients and providers
- Optimizing interdisciplinary collaboration in support of HCV-positive PWIDs
Small-Group Training for Community-Based
Addiction Services Providers
- Understanding the need for referral and linkage to HCV care
- The epidemiologic imperative: Treatment as prevention
- Barriers to treatment of HCV-positive PWIDs: Clinical assumptions and prescribing limitations
- Recent clinical evidence for the feasibility and success of treating HCV-positive PWIDs
- A holistic approach to harm reduction
- Real-world integration: Optimizing collaboration with HCV-care specialists
Continuing Medical Education (CME) INFORMATION
Target Audience
This educational initiative is intended for the following target audiences:
Medical specialists currently treating HCV
- Hepatologists
- Gastroenterologists
- Infectious disease specialists
- Other clinicians currently treating HCV
Addiction-services specialists: Opioid substitution therapy/monitoring programs; needle-exchange programs; other addiction-services programs
- Clinical and social-services professionals
- Nonclinical staff
- Peer advocates and peer educators
- At-risk clients
Educational Objectives: HCV Treaters
- Demonstrate collaboration with addiction-services professionals to increase referral of HCV-positive PWIDs; treatment initiation and completion; and, prevention of posttreatment reinfection.
- Describe the HCV-treatment rationale, principles, and goals pertinent to the PWID population.
- Prescribe the highly effective DAA-drug regimens to treat HCV-positive PWIDs.
- Utilize harm-reduction principles and practices across the HCV-care continuum.
Educational Objectives: Addiction-Services Specialists
- Describe the HCV-treatment rationale and goals pertinent to the PWID population.
- Demonstrate collaboration with HCV-treatment specialists to increase referrals of HCV-positive PWIDs for effective direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy.
- Provide counselling to all HCV-positive PWIDs regarding the feasibility, safety, and success of HCV treatment.
- Demonstrate collaboration with HCV-treatment specialists to support the client’s engagement and retention in care, treatment adherence, and posttreatment follow-up
- Utilize harm-reduction principles and practices across the HCV-care continuum.
