Hepatitis C is rarely treated in high-risk postpartum Medicaid recipients
04/07/2022

About 70% of people included in the study were tested for hepatitis C, and 31% of them were diagnosed with the virus. At three months postpartum, 3.2% of them had received a follow-up visit or medication to treat the virus, and at six months that rate had only increased to 5.9%.
“But what we’re finding is that it’s not that easy – as our research shows, telling a new parent they have Hep C and need to make an appointment with a specialist infectious diseases just doesn’t translate into a cure,” Jarlenski said. “Now more than ever, with universal screening for hepatitis C in pregnancy, the existence of a pill that cures this devastating disease, and the expansion of postpartum Medicaid coverage to pay for this treatment, it is essential to find a sustainable path to care.”
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CREDIT: Pitt Public Health
CAPTION: Marian Jarlenski, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
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