Findings from a Project Which Established Hepatitis C Point-of-Care Testing and Linkage to Care at a Homelessness Service in Adelaide, Australia, 2021-2022.

Background: Point-of-care hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing streamlines testing and treatment pathways. In this study, we established an HCV model of care in a homelessness service by offering antibody and RNA point-of-care testing.

Methods: A nurse and peer-led HCV model of care with peer support were implemented between November 2021 and April 2022 at a homelessness service in Adelaide, Australia.

Hepatitis C Virus Antiviral Drug Resistance and Salvage Therapy Outcomes Across Australia.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can now be cured with well-tolerated direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. However, a potential barrier to HCV elimination is the emergence of resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) that reduce the efficacy of antiviral drugs, but real-world studies assessing the clinical impact of RASs are limited. Here, an analysis of the impact of RASs on retreatment outcomes for different salvage regimens in patients nationally who failed first-line DAA therapy is reported.

Point-of-Care Testing for Hepatitis C in the Priority Settings of Mental Health, Prisons, and Drug and Alcohol Facilities-the PROMPt Study.

Background: A barrier to hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure is conventional testing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of HCV antibody and RNA point-of-care testing (POCT) on testing rates, linkage to care, treatment, and acceptability of testing in 3 priority settings in Australia.

Methods: Participants were enrolled in an interventional cohort study at a reception prison, inpatient mental health service, and inpatient alcohol and other drug unit, between October 2020 and December 2021.

Cost effectiveness of treatment models of care for hepatitis C: the South Australian state-wide experience.

Aim: The objective was to study the long-term (lifetime) cost effectiveness of four different hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment models of care (MOC) with directly acting antiviral drugs.

Methods: A cohort Markov model-based probabilistic cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) was undertaken extrapolating to up to 30 years from cost and outcome data collected from a primary study involving a real-life Australian cohort. In this study, noncirrhotic patients treated for HCV from 1 March 2016 to 28 February 2017 at four major public hospitals and liaising sites in South Australia were studied retrospectively.

Protocol for a randomised crossover trial to evaluate patient and nurse satisfaction with electronic and elastomeric portable infusion pumps for the continuous administration of antibiotic therapy in the home: the Comparing Home Infusion Devices (CHID) study.

Introduction: Previous studies comparing satisfaction with electronic and elastomeric infusion pumps are limited, and improvements in size and usability of electronic pumps have since occurred. The Comparing Home Infusion Devices (CHID) study plans to assess patient and nurse satisfaction with an elastomeric and electronic pump for delivering intravenous antibiotic treatment in the home. Secondary objectives are to determine pump-related complications and actual antibiotic dose administered, evaluate temperature variation and compare pump operating costs.

Saving costs through a coordinated care model for patients with hepatocellular cancer.

Background: In keeping with recent trends, patients with hepatocellular cancer have had their care managed by a dedicated Nurse Coordinator at our tertiary Australian hospital since 2010. To date, there are few data to justify the cost-effectiveness of this approach.

Aims: To quantify the potential cost saved through the employment of a Nurse Coordinator in the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma at a single tertiary-level Australian hospital.