HCV Patients Who Seek Specialist Collaboration Improve Care

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HCV Patients Who Seek Specialist Collaboration Improve Care

Patients with Hepatitis C Benefit from Collaborative Care

lCollaboration between specialists and primary care physicians translates to better care for patients with chronic hepatitis C, according to an ls of Internal Medicine study.l

Using an insurance database, researchers retrospectively assessed seven Medicare-recommended indicators of quality care (e.g., vaccinations for hepatitis A and B, confirmation of viremia, HCV genotype testing, antiviral treatment, RNA testing) among a cohort of some 10,000 patients with hepatitis C.

l

Only 19% of patients received all quality indicators.Patients were less likely to receive any recommended care if they were being treated by specialists only (odds ratio, 0.79) or by generalists only (OR, 0.44), compared with being seen by both.

lThe authors write: "These results are consistent with data in other areas of medicine, which show that generalist–specialist collaboration may provide the best chance at improving the process or outcomes of care."l

LINK(S):ls of Internal Medicine article

(Free abstract)Published in Physician's First Watch

August 17, 2010

http://Hepatitis Cnewdrugs.blogspot.com/2010/08/patients-with-hepatitis-c-benefit-from.html