Publication Date

2022

Abstract

Background: The syndemic between opioid use disorder (OUD), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) results in excessive burdens on the healthcare system. Integrating these siloed systems of care is critical to address all three conditions adequately. In this implementation project, we assessed the data capacity of the health system to measure a cascade of care (COC) across HIV, HCV and OUD services in five states to help guide public health planning. Materials and methods: Data for this study were gathered from publicly available datasets and reports from government (SAMSHA, CMS, HRSA and CDC) sites. We created, where possible, COCs for HIV, HCV, and OUD spanning population estimate, diagnosis, treatment initiation, treat- ment retention, and patient outcomes for each of five states in the study. Results: The process of data collection showed that baseline COCs examining the intersections of OUD, HIV, and HCV cannot be produced and that there are missing data in all states exam- ined. Collection of specific data points is not consistent across all states. States are better at reporting HIV cascades due to federal requirements. Only gross estimates could be made for OUD cascades in all states because data are separated by payer source, leaving no central point of data collection from all sources. Data for HCV were not publicly available. Conclusion: It is difficult to assess the strategies needed or the progress made towards increas- ing treatment access and decreasing the burden of disease without the ability to construct an accurate baseline. Using integrated COCs with relevant benchmarks an not only guide public health planning, but also provide meaningful targets for intervention.

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Annals of Medicine

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