Telemedicine successfully engages marginalized rural hepatitis C patients in curative care.

Background: Rurally located individuals living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) face barriers to engagement and retention in care. Telemedicine technologies coupled with highly curative direct acting antiviral (DAA) treatments may increase accessibility to HCV care while achieving high sustained virologic response (SVR) rates. We compared clinical and socio-economic characteristics, SVR, and loss to follow-up among telemedicine (TM), mixed delivery (MD), and outpatient clinic (OPC) patients receiving care through The Ottawa Hospital Viral Hepatitis Program (TOHVHP).

Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy Outcomes in Canadian Chronic Hepatitis C Telemedicine Patients.

Introduction: Many of the 300,000 HCV-infected Canadians live in under-served and remote areas without access to HCV healthcare specialists. Telemedicine (TM) and advances in HCV management can facilitate linkage of these marginalized patients to healthcare.

Materials And Methods: A cohort database analysis was performed on patients followed at The Ottawa Hospital and Regional Viral Hepatitis Program between January 2012 and August 2016.