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Differences in Provider Hepatitis C Virus Screening Recommendations by Patient Risk Status
Alfu Laily1, Robert Duncan2, Kaitlyn M Gabhart3
1Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, 820 Mitch Daniels Blvd, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Preventive Medicine Reports
|February 20, 2024
Summary
Healthcare providers are not consistently recommending Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) screening for all patients, despite its importance in preventive care. This study highlights disparities in screening recommendations based on patient risk factors.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Preventive Medicine
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Background:
- Provider recommendations are crucial for patient engagement in preventive care services.
- Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) screening is a key preventive measure, but its recommendation quality varies.
- Understanding disparities in HCV screening recommendations is essential for improving public health outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the quality of HCV screening recommendations made by healthcare providers to high-risk versus average-risk patients.
- To determine if providers universally recommend HCV screening irrespective of patient risk behaviors.
- To identify factors influencing the strength and quality of HCV screening recommendations.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 284 healthcare providers in Indiana in 2020.
- Data collected included provider characteristics, HCV screening recommendation practices (strength, presentation, frequency, timeliness), self-efficacy, and perceived barriers.
- Statistical analyses included T-tests, Chi-square tests, prevalence ratios, and logistic regression to compare recommendation quality between patient risk groups.
Main Results:
- High-risk patients received significantly higher proportions of strong, routine, frequent, and timely HCV screening recommendations compared to average-risk patients (P < 0.001).
- Nurse practitioners were less likely to provide strong HCV screening recommendations to high-risk patients compared to other provider types.
- For high-risk patients, provider self-efficacy positively correlated with strong recommendations, while perceived barriers and internal medicine specialty were associated with lower odds of strong recommendations.
Conclusions:
- Healthcare providers do not universally recommend HCV screening for all adults, indicating a gap in consistent application of preventive care guidelines.
- Disparities in recommendation quality exist based on patient risk status and provider characteristics.
- Future interventions should focus on improving the consistency and quality of HCV screening recommendations across all patient risk levels.
