Two Reasons You Should Care About Hepatitis C

Let's talk about Hepatitis C for just a moment.  

Hep C is a disease of the liver.  It can be mild, nearly asymptomatic... or it can be a lifelong battle, requiring a potential liver transplant.  Hep C isn't genetic or environmental - rather, it's contagious. The virus is spread when the blood of someone with Hep C enters the body of someone who is not infected.  The two most common methods of transmission both involve needles and both impact workers' compensation: 1. accidental needle stick injuries in a health care setting; 2. the sharing of needles and syringes among drug addicts.  

Regarding injuries to healthcare workers... while most payers won't see many Hep C cases that are work comp related, it's best for payers to be prepared if and when a case does arise.  Why?  Because treatment is both complex and enormously expensive.  The recently released Drug Trends Report from pharmacy benefit manager Healthcare Solutions has an excellent section on specialty drugs and a very informative sub-section on Hep C.  "The new Hepatitis C medications, such as Harvoni, Olysio, and Sovaldi, have a treatment success rate of 94-100%, or double that of previous therapies," says the report. "These medications cost $90,000 to $226,000 for a 12 to 24 week course of therapy.  Effectively, a client with a $1 million drug spend could experience a 2% increase in overall drug spend with one claimant receiving these medications." (Emphasis added).  

Regarding Hep C transmission among drug abusers... the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly published a piece on Friday regarding the growth of Hep C in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.  Surveillance data from these four states showed a 364% increase in Hep C cases from 2006 to 2012 among persons <= 30 years of age.  This rise was strongly correlated with opioid misuse and abuse rates as well as substance abuse treatment admissions.  While I've often pointed out that the work comp population is not a primary driver of the type of drug abuse that involves drug tampering and needle sharing, we should nonetheless recognize that work comp is a significant source of diversion (both intentional and unintentional), and therefore the drugs being paid for by work comp payers are, at some level, likely contributing to the rise in Hep C cases.

Hep C is complicated and expensive.  Two lessons for payers:

1. When a work-related Hep C case pops up, put your best clinical resources to work on that claim to ensure prompt, appropriate, adherent, and thorough care; 
2. Make sure you're doing everything you can to stem the tide of prescription drug misuse and abuse. 

Michael   

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