An innovative project of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, HepCure is improving provider knowledge & patient engagement for chronic disease management in persons infected with the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The toolkit is designed to address barriers for the effective care and treatment of HCV by providing web-based and smartphone enabled resources, navigation, consultation, and support for both patients and providers. The HepCure toolkit draws upon the experience of expert providers within the Mount Sinai Network, with support and development by Sinai AppLab, Mount Sinai Medical Center. HepCure was developed by the Mount Sinai Division of Liver Diseases, Division of General Internal Medicine, and the Informatics for Research, Outcomes, and Quality initiative in the Division of Gastroenterology.
HepCure is a secure, cloud-based provider portal meant to virtually navigate providers through hepatitis C virus (HCV) care. The HepCure dashboard integrates tools to more effectively manage HCV infected patients. A flexible, scalable platform, the HepCure Dashboard provides a seamless flow of information within a digital healthcare infrastructure. HepCure enables easy access to HCV resources and best-practices for optimal management of HCV patients with the opportunity to engage patients on treatment, while improving overall health outcomes. The platform serves as an organizational tool, with built-in workflow efficiencies that optimize treatment decisions, reduce redundancies, as well as promote provider training and development.
Through the use of the dashboard and patient app, providers can:
We at HepCure are always looking for ways to improve. That’s why we’re constantly working on new features and meeting new challenges! Here are just a few of the features we plan to explore:
The patient app is a free resource for patients with hepatitis C, which allows them to track medication adherence, symptoms, and gain access to resources. It is available to download for free on iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play) operating systems. While the app can be used by patients independently from the dashboard, it can also be linked with the provider dashboard. Providers can push lab data to patients and track treatment adherence and symptom data input by patients in real time.
The HepCure Tele-Education Webinar Series features many diverse and salient topics in hepatitis C. Each week, the webinar series showcases different speakers who are prominent members of the hepatitis C community. Our webinars are attended by a wide audience, and include providers, patient navigators, and other health workers from around the globe. Our collaboration with the New York State Clinical Education Initiative (CEI) and Empire Liver Foundation (ELF) allows us to provide continuing education credits (CME/CNE) through attendance to our webinars on the first and last Tuesday of every month.
All webinars are held on Tuesdays from 4:30 - 5:30pm EST
On Tuesday, December 10th Emalie Huriaux and Jon Stockton of Washington State Department of Health
as well as our discussant Annette Gaudino of the Treatment Action Group presented on:
“Hep C Free Washington: Sharing Lessons to Date from a State Hepatitis C Elimination Initiative”
About Emalie Huriaux, MPH
Emalie Huriaux is the STD/HIV/HCV Prevention & Drug User Health Programs Manager for the Washington State Department of Health, where she has worked for nearly two years. Prior to her role at the Department of Health, Emalie worked in California for nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and local government sectors focused on programmatic and policy initiatives to address harm reduction, sexual health, viral hepatitis, and HIV services.
About Jon Stockton, MHA
Jon Stockton, Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinator, has 18 years of experience working with public health programs, specifically in infectious diseases and the health of incarcerated populations and people who use drugs. He currently manages the HCV prevention portfolio for Washington with an emphasis on developing a comprehensive integrated system of prevention and care for marginalized populations. Prior to working at DOH he worked as an STD/HIV Disease Intervention Specialist and worked at a local county-run SSP for Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. In addition, Mr. Stockton worked as the Director of Education and Prevention Services for a non-profit in Los Angeles County managing incarcerated youth and prison system prevention programing focused on infectious diseases including the development of a HCV mentor and support group program for Los Angeles County prisons.
About Annette Gaudino
Annette Gaudino is the State and Local Policy Director at Treatment Action Group (TAG), where she works to advance hepatitis C, HIV and TB elimination across U.S. jurisdictions, with special attention to the needs of people who use drugs. As a founding member of the Steering Committee of the New York State Hepatitis C Elimination Campaign, Annette successfully led community mobilization to make NY the first State to commit to hepatitis C elimination. She served on the NY State Governor’s appointed HCV Elimination Task Force, as well as AIDS Institute Substance User Health Clinical Guidelines and Medical Care Criteria Committees.
On Tuesday, November 19th Dr. Ayse Aytaman of VA New York Harbor HCS Brooklyn presented on:
“Treatment of HCV in Patients with End-Stage Organ Disease and Other Populations”
Learning Objectives:
Presenters Bio:
Dr. Ayse Aytaman earned her medical degree from the University of Vienna, where she studied with a full scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Education. After her residency and fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, she joined the faculty at VA New York Harbor HCS in Brooklyn. She created the first multidisciplinary viral hepatitis team in 1999 with inclusion of pharmD and liver psychology in the VA system. In 2012, with a grant from VA Public Health, she established the first multi-facility and multidisciplinary, VISN-wide hepatocellular carcinoma team and SCAN ECHO liver cancer tumor board in the nation, utilizing heavily telehealth/virtual telemedicine technology.
Additionally, Dr. Aytaman and her team has been organizing the yearly VA national liver cancer summits since 2012.
Dr. Aytaman’s clinical research interest areas are epidemiology and outcomes research in advanced liver diseases, hepatocellular carcinoma, system-based performance improvement in chronic and advanced liver diseases and pre- and post-transplant hepatitis C therapy.
These learning modules are intended for clinicians of all backgrounds who may encounter or treat patients with hepatitis C and would like to establish core competencies in screening & diagnosis, evaluation and management of the disease. Content includes screening and linkage to care, initial evaluation, diagnosis and recognition of clinical manifestations. These modules were originally presented as a component of the HepCure Tele-Education Webinar Series.
These learning modules are intended for clinicians who have experience treating patients with hepatitis C and would like to further their knowledge. These modules were originally presented as a component of the HepCure Tele-Education Webinar Series.
Psychosocial Readiness Evaluation and Preparation for Hepatitis C Treatment
THe Psychosocial Readiness Evaluation and Preparation for Hepatitis C Treatment (PREP-C) is a free interactive online tool that enables you to provide a thorough assessment of a patient’s psychosocial readiness to begin Hepatitis C treatment, and make a treatment plan to improve treatment readiness.
This free online tool can be used by any type of professional involved in preparing a patient for Hepatitis C Treatment including medical providers, nurses, mental health, substance use, social work, pharmacy, case management, treatment adherence and health education specialists.
