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A new $100 million pilot program launched by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers state and community-based health care organizations the resources for prevention, testing, and treatment of hepatitis C among individuals with substance use disorder and serious mental illness, according to an HHS press release.

The program, known as the Hepatitis C Elimination Initiative Pilot, will be administered by the Substance and Mental Health Administration. “This program is designed to support communities severely affected by homelessness and to gain insights on effective ways to identify patients, complete treatment, cure infections, and reduce reinfection by hepatitis C,” according to the press release.

The upfront investment in hepatitis C management is projected to not only save lives, but also to save community health care costs in the long-term, according to the press release.

“This is a vigorous pilot program that provides the first steps toward the large goal of eliminating hepatitis C in the United States population,” said William Schaffner, MD, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, in an interview.

Hepatitis C affects more than two million individuals in the US, and is often complicated by social and medical issues such as homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health issues, said Schaffner. Fortunately, hepatitis C can be treated with oral medications that cure the chronic viral infection, thereby ending ongoing liver injury and interrupting person-to-person transmission of the virus by sharing needles, he said.

Given that the population most affected with hepatitis C also is often homeless, with possible mental health issues and sharing of needles for illicit drug use, challenges in reaching this population include assuring them that the care they receive though this and other programs is nonjudgemental and helpful, Schaffner told Medscape Medical News.

The oral medications that now can cure the chronic hepatitis C viral infections must be taken over a period of weeks, and patients who lead socially disorganized lives often need assistance to assure that the medicine is taken as intended, so trained and sensitive personnel who are committed to helping this population are needed to make treatment programs succeed, he said.

Looking ahead, “the purpose of the pilot studies that will be funded by this program is to explore various approaches to determine which are more successful in bringing patients in to be evaluated and then to complete treatment,” Schaffner added.

State and community-based organizations are among the entities eligible to apply for the program. Potential applicants can find information about the program and application materials on the SAMSHA website.

Schaffner had no financial conflicts to disclose.