(1309) Impact on Hepatitis C Treatment Adherence in a Specialty Pharmacy Through Introduction of Pharmacy-led Standardized Intervention

Objectives: Hepatitis C (HCV) is a highly curable condition that is commonly treated with antivirals, often dispensed through specialty pharmacy services. Adherence to medication is crucial to prevent further progression of the disease to cirrhosis or liver failure. Additionally, patients who are adherent to therapy are more likely to achieve HCV cure as a result. Therapy completion is defined when a prescribed 2- or 3-month treatment is prescribed and there are less than 7 days of consecutive missed treatment. The primary objectives of this study are (1) to improve completion rates of hepatitis C treatment with a standardized intervention and (2) utilize the standardized intervention to identify the barriers for non-completion including cost or accessibility and appropriately address with patients and providers when barriers are present.

Methods: This study is a single-center, cohort study designed to compare pre- and post-intervention to measure effectiveness of standardized intervention made to patients in a specialty pharmacy undergoing HCV treatment. Patients at least 18 years old who were treated for HCV with either sofosbuvir/velpatasvir or glecaprevir/pibrentasvir will received the standardized intervention. This intervention was developed by the pharmacy team to include patient counseling, importance of therapy completion, proactively address barriers of therapy completion, and assure appropriate follow-up. Three attempts will be made to contact eligible patients for this intervention. Demographic data will be analyzed to compare pre- and post- intervention cohorts for consistency. The primary outcome will be measured by therapy completion rates and comparative statistics will be used to determine the impact of the standardized intervention. To address the secondary objective, the primary investigator will lead a qualitative thematic analysis of all interventions to identify consistent barriers which can be used to improve the intervention moving forward.

Results: The anticipated results of this study are increased overall HCV therapy completion rates from February-August 2023 (pre-intervention) compared to August 2023-February 2024 (post-intervention).

Conclusions: It is anticipated that the addition of a standardized intervention will improve therapy completion and this project will help identify common adherence barriers which can be used to the intervention to improve patient care.