Journal of general internal medicine
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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and injection drug use have concurrently increased in the last decade. Evidence supports simultaneously treating chronic HCV and opioid use disorder (OUD) with medication. Kentucky is a hard-hit state for both conditions that has undertaken policy and practice efforts to increase access to both types of medications. ⋯ Gaps in HCV treatment among Kentucky Medicaid recipients with OUD were pervasive. Despite evidence supporting HCV-OUD co-treatment, patients receiving MOUD were significantly less likely to receive curative HCV treatment.
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Healthy lifestyle behaviors play a significant role in promoting cardiovascular health. Primary care clinicians (PCCs) are tasked with promoting cardiovascular health through the assessment of lifestyle behaviors and the use of behavior change counseling. ⋯ Our framework proposes that this digital communication bundle contains the following features: assess and analyze an individual's cardiovascular health status; communicate personalized information in a health-literacy-friendly, visual format; assess behavioral components of change (e.g., motivation) that can inform the PCC's approach in guiding behavior change; provide PCCs with brief, behavior change counseling prompts that are grounded in motivational interviewing; and assess and address potential structural, socioeconomic, and environmental barriers, thereby fostering resilience in patients' lifestyle change efforts. We highlight the available research to support the need for such a tool and its potential ability to guide PCCs while also promoting behavior change in a patient-centered manner.