Many of us are in San Francisco for the start of the annual AASLD Liver Meeting. It is at this time each year that we take stock and look at what we have accomplished in our efforts to eliminate HCV treatment access restrictions in the Medicaid program.

Attached is the latest update of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI) and National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable’s (NVHR) Hepatitis C: The State of Medicaid Access report.  As you can see in the report, we have made great progress in reducing HCV treatment access restrictions in the past year, with Illinois the latest state to remove all discriminatory restrictions in their Medicaid program. Overall, since October 2017, 21 states have  either eliminated or reduced their fibrosis restrictions, 9 have loosened their sobriety restrictions, and 6 have scaled back their prescriber restrictions.

Our coordinated strategy that involves research, state-by-state advocacy and litigation is contributing to great results. However, there are still far too many restrictions in place in Medicaid, private health insurance and correctional settings.

Our advocacy efforts continue as we remain committed to eliminating all HCV treatment access restrictions. As we all know, it is a necessary step to making the promise of the cure a reality for all people living with HCV and an essential component of the strategy to end HCV in the United States.

We are in the process of updating all of the state-by-state HCV report cards.  More information on the state of Medicaid HCV treatment access is available at www.stateofhepc.org.  For additional information please contact Phil Waters at pwaters@law.harvard.edu.

Please feel free to distribute the update to your colleagues.