In the News
PHI’s Bridge Program in Roll Call: Opt-Out Testing For Hepatitis C Key to Fighting Disease
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that left untreated can cause serious liver damage, including liver failure and cancer. Experts with PHI’s Bridge Center spoke with Roll Call about the Center’s efforts to increase adoption of opt-out testing in emergency departments, which can help increase identification of people with undiagnosed infections.
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An estimated 2.2-4 million U.S. adults may be living with hepatitis C, but because early symptoms can take years to develop, less than one-third may be aware they have the disease or seek treatment. Speaking with Roll Call, Aimee Moulin, M.D., one of the Principal Investigators of the Public Health Institute’s Bridge Center and a leading expert in emergency medicine, says that opt-out testing is a vital strategy to preventing, identifying and treating the disease. In 2023, the Bridge Center partnered with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on a $15 million initiative—the Emergency Department Syphilis/HIV/HCV Screening Program (EDSP)—to implement routine opt-out testing for hepatitis C, in addition to HIV and syphilis, in 30 emergency departments across the state.
We have populations who are not connected to traditional outpatient sources of care. If you want to see people who are not really seen well and frequently in their primary care office, the emergency department is a great place to access those folks.Aimee Moulin, MD
Multiple Principal Investigator, PHI’s Bridge Center in Roll Call
The partnership between Bridge and CDPH is a highly impactful public health intervention that supports frontline emergency care teams as they connect people who would have otherwise been missed to testing and immediate treatment. The program is proven to improve health system capacity across diverse urban and rural settings by connecting patients to services and community programs. The initiative uses Bridge’s navigator model to provide patients with education, arrange care and help overcome barriers like transportation or lack of phone access.
“It’s really critical to have that navigation piece covered and reimbursable by insurance,” added Cynthia Rohrer, MPH, who leads EDSP as Co-Principal Investigator alongside Andrew Herring, MD.
Building on this highly successful program, the recently signed California State budget includes an additional $60 million over the next six years for syndemic screening programs (addressing multiple, inter-related health conditions) in emergency departments (Bill AB 164, Section 95). This syndemic work in emergency departments is one of the Bridge Center’s key programs across the health care system to expand access to equitable low-barrier addiction treatment and sexual and reproductive health care.
Originally published by Roll Call
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