Collaborative effort, new publication: Using Health Information Technology to Create Pathways for Hepatitis C Treatment and Cure in West Virginia

This publication represents a collaborative effort of the West Virginia University School of Public Health's Office of Health Services Research (Baus, Calkins, Pollard), the WVU School of Medicine (Feinberg) and the West Virginia Rural Health Association (Sutphin, McManaway).

Abstract: This case study describes use of health information technology for enhanced team-based care and care coordination between primary care providers and infectious disease specialists for curing and eventually eliminating hepatitis C in West Virginia. This program, the West Virginia Hepatitis Academic Mentoring Partnership, aims to improve outcomes of West Virginians with chronic hepatitis C infection by training and supporting primary care providers to screen, diagnose, evaluate, treat, cure, and follow patients in the community rather than referring them to distant specialists with long wait times. This initiative supports health equity by increasing access to quality care in severely under-resourced rural areas. Primary care providers engage with hepatitis C experts in a web-based training and mentoring process, combined with informatics training in use of a customized Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCAP) platform for secure data tracking and bidirectional communication. This use of an informatics platform available to all partners supports shared decision-making between primary care providers and specialists, fostering a primary care learning network for improved hepatitis C care in West Virginia.

To access the publication, visit Perspectives in Health Information Management, Vol. 19, Issue 1 or download a copy here.