Insurance Barriers, Gendering, and Access: Interviews with Central North Carolinian Women About Their Health Care Experiences.

Background: Women face unique logistical and financial barriers to health care access. They also have higher health care expenditures and higher rates of morbidity. Women's experiences while utilizing health care are historically less well researched and warrant exploration.

Estimating the Prevalence of Advanced Fibrosis in Homeless Adults with Hepatitis C in Boston.

Background And Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly prevalent among homeless individuals, but the scope of HCV-associated liver fibrosis in this population is poorly understood.

Methods: Using the FIB-4 Index, we describe the prevalence and correlates of advanced fibrosis among a retrospective cohort of all homeless-experienced adults with HCV seen at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) over a one-year period.

Results: Of 832 BHCHP patients with HCV, 15.

Changes in public order after the opening of an overdose monitoring facility for people who inject drugs.

Background: In the face of an increasingly fatal opioid crisis, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) opened the Supportive Place for Observation and Treatment (SPOT), a unique low-threshold harm reduction program for monitoring people who have injected drugs and are at imminent risk of overdose. This study examines the impact of the opening of the SPOT program on measures of injection drug-related public order in the neighborhood surrounding the facility.

Methods: Data was collected at 10 weeks prior and 12 weeks post SPOT implementation on: number of over-sedated individuals in public, publicly discarded syringes, publicly discarded injection-related litter, and instances of active injection drug use or exchange of drugs.

The willingness of people who inject drugs in Boston to use a supervised injection facility.

Background: In Massachusetts, the number of opioid-related deaths has increased 350% since 2000. In the setting of increasing overdose deaths, one potential intervention is supervised injection facilities (SIFs). This study explores willingness of people who inject drugs in Boston to use a SIF and examines factors associated with willingness.

Prevalence and risk factors for MRSA nasal colonization among persons experiencing homelessness in Boston, MA.

Homeless individuals face an elevated risk of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) infection. Identifying the prevalence and risk factors for MRSA nasal colonization may reduce infection risk. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a health clinic for homeless persons in Boston, MA, USA (=194).