Julio Gutierrez, MD
Julio Gutierrez, MD, transplant hepatologist at Scripps Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation, discussed:
- The “rapidly evolving” field of HCV and the rise of new direct-acting antivirals (DAAs);
- Decreases in screening, increases in treatment using telemedicine tools and other ways the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted HCV elimination goals;
- Health equity in the care of patients with HCV in the interferon era vs. the DAA era;
- Financial and insurance aspects of HCV treatment;
- Challenges and solutions to treatment access for patients, especially Medicaid patients;
- The importance of HCC surveillance after hepatitis C cure;
- What awareness means to providers, patients and everybody in the HCV community;
- Colocalization: an “exciting evolution of hep C treatment;" and
- Greatest areas of unmet need: access to therapy, prevention of future HCV infections, screening, better linkage to care and surveillance of reinfection – “everybody needs to learn to screen and treat where they find the patients.”