The Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) is distributing resources to health care providers as part of Gov. Inslee’s directive to eliminate hepatitis C (HCV) in our state by 2030. HCV is the most common blood borne disease in the United States. Between 75 and 85 percent of people infected with HCV develop chronic HCV. The HCA has contracted with the biopharmaceutical company AbbVie with the goal of finding people who need treatment, educating health care workforce about new policies, and addressing barriers to treatment, so you may continue to hear about them in the future.
The HCA has two briefs that elaborate on Apply Health policy changes around treating HCV, including:
- The antiviral MAVYRET no longer requires prior authorization for Medicaid clients. For Uniform Medical Plan there is still a brief prior authorization to ensure correct duration of treatment.
- Anyone licensed to prescribe is allowed to screen and treat Medicaid and UMP members. For every patient, except those with decompensated cirrhosis, the treatment length is 8 weeks.
Further information is available on the HCV elimination webpage.
