This page is an archive. Its content may no longer be accurate and was last updated on the original publication date. It is intended for reference and as a historical record only. For hep C questions, call Help4Hep BC at 1-888-411-7578.
SAN FRANCISCO — It will be impossible to eliminate hepatitis C in Rhode Island in the next 15 years if Medicaid restrictions on treatment coverage remain, according to the latest projections.
The state Medicaid program currently restricts the coverage of hepatitis C medications to patients with a fibrosis stage of at least 3.
“We need to ramp up screening and treatment if we really want to eliminate hepatitis C,” Ayorinde Soipe, MBBS, from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told Medscape Medical News.
Dr Soipe presented findings from a study of the projected prevalence of hepatitis C here at the International Conference on Viral Hepatitis 2016.
For most patients, the hepatitis C virus can be effectively cleared with the new direct-acting antiviral drugs. In the United States, however, many infected people can’t afford to buy their own drugs; instead, they rely on Medicaid for coverage.
But Rhode Island and many other states have imposed restrictions on coverage for hepatitis C therapies. In addition to fibrosis scores, some limit coverage to people who are not using alcohol or injecting drugs.