Saturday, January 12, 2019

HCV requires serious policies and affordable insurance coverage

Of Interest
Q&A: DAA restrictions impact patient care
January 14, 2019
Infectious Disease News spoke with Breskin about why DAAs restrictions were enacted, the current state of treatment denials and how DAA policies should be changed.

The paper draws on participant interview data from a qualitative research study based on a participatory research design that included a peer researcher with direct experience of both hepatitis C DAA treatment and injecting drug use at all stages of the research process.

The role of insurance providers in supporting treatment and management of hepatitis C patients
Masoud Behzadifar, Hasan Abolghasem Gorji, Aziz Rezapour, Meysam Behzadifar and Nicola Luigi Bragazzi

BMC Health Services Research201919:25
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3869-8

Excerpt from the article:
In order to cope with the high costs of the new DAA regimens, some insurers are restricting access to medications, establishing selective criteria for reimbursement. Gowda and collaborators performed a prospective cohort study among American HCV patients (Open Access Published online 2018 Jun 7). Authors found that absolute denials of DAA regimens by insurers have remained high and increased over time.

Received: 24 April 2018
Accepted: 4 January 2019
Published: 10 January 2019

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The role of insurance providers in supporting treatment and management of hepatitis C patients
Abstract
Today, one of the most important global public health challenges is represented by hepatitis C virus (HCV), which imposes relevant costs. Globally speaking, the median cost of HCV-related complications ranges from $280 for an uncomplicated hepatitis to $139,070 for a liver transplantation. There are effective therapies for HCV patients worldwide, which has increased the hope of improving the process of managing and curing these patients. The adherence of patients to the pharmacological treatment and the use of effective drugs in the management of HCV disease are of crucial importance for health policy- and decision-makers. Studies show that, globally, insurance coverage for patients with HCV is not adequate in that still many patients are not covered by insurance programs. This issue as well as the economic conditions of countries are very serious challenges for ensuring an effective treatment. The most important and greatest help currently available to ensure HCV treatment is to implement plans to reduce costs and support patients. Some studies have shown that the expansion of coverage by private payers seems able to generate positive spillover benefits to public insures. Insurers, in addition to maintaining and increasing their own interests, are trying to increase their social status as a sponsor of patients. In conclusion, HCV disease requires serious policies and affordable insurance coverage.

Read the full article: 
https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-3869-8

On This Blog
Controversy over the cost of hepatitis C drugs
Link to research and news articles addressing insurance restrictions; private insurers/Medicaid - and -availability of generic versions of hepatitis C medications. 

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