Case Management and Capacity Building to Enhance Hepatitis C Treatment Uptake at Community Health Centers in a Large Urban Setting.

An estimated 4.1 million people in the United States are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). In 2014, the Hepatitis C Community Alliance to Test and Treat (HepCCATT) collaborative was formed to address hepatitis C in Chicago. From 2014 to 2017, the HepCCATT Case Management Program case managed 181 HCV-infected people and performed on-site capacity building at a 6-site community health center (CHC) that produced codified protocols, which were translated into a telehealth program to build capacity within CHCs to deliver hepatitis C care. HepCCATT's innovative approach to addressing multilevel barriers is a potential model for increasing access to hepatitis C care and treatment.

Impact of an Urban Project ECHO: Safety-Net Clinician Self-Efficacy Across Conditions.

INTRODUCTION: To mitigate the lack of specialty healthcare, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes) trains community-based primary care clinicians to better prevent the progression of, manage, and treat common health conditions. ECHO-Chicago launched in 2010 as the first urban-centered ECHO program, focusing on safety-net clinicians, and has trained over 5,175 community clinicians across 34 topic areas. This paper examines self-efficacy among ECHO-Chicago participants across 11 clinical series, including a novel use of qualitative themes from self-efficacy questions. METHODS: Five years of baseline and postseries survey data were collected from 2014 to 2019, resulting in 951 participants. Paired t-tests assessed change from baseline survey to postsurvey, and Cohen's d determined effect size. Change was assessed by individual series, adult or pediatric focus, participants' prescription privilege status, and across series by qualitative question theme. Metrics included total change, any improvement, a 10% target, and a clinical competency threshold. Analysis occurred from July 2020 to January 2022. RESULTS: All clinical series achieved statistically significant improvement in self-efficacy, and most had a large effect size. A total of 88% had any improvement, 65% met the 10% target of 0.7 points, and 52% met the competency threshold of 5.0 in the postsurvey. Prescribers had a significantly greater increase in their self-efficacy scores than nonprescribers. With a comparison across series, each theme achieved statistical significance, with most reaching large effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: ECHO-Chicago successfully increased participants' self-efficacy. This inquiry adds an urban focus, years of data, multiple series, and a novel qualitative theme component to enable comparisons across rather than solely within the ECHO series.

U.S. Government Accountability Office Reports on Children's Oral Health and Dental Care: A 31-Year Retrospective Analysis.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze reports and testimonies from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) relevant to children's oral health and dental care during the calendar years 1990 through 2021. Methods: The GAO database was searched for reports and testimonies that directly or tangentially addressed children's oral health and dental care. Titles, abstracts, and texts were reviewed to determine what Congress asked of GAO and how GAO responded. Results: Among nearly 30,000 health- and health care-related GAO releases over 31 years, 35 were focused on children's oral health and/or dental care. In response to requests by key congressional committees and legislators, reports addressed coverage, access, utilization, cost, network adequacy, workforce, and safety net. Multiple reports addressed the persistence of health and health care inequities. GAO's findings have supported dental mandates for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Affordable Care Act, the federal pediatric Oral Health Initiative, and congressional oversight of federal agencies that administer Medicaid/CHIP and train dentists. Conclusions: Over more than a quarter century, the U. S. Government Accountability Office has contributed meaningfully to congressional understanding of pediatric oral health and dental care. Continued reliance by Congress on GAO investigations can further enhance policy-making and oversight on issues important to pediatric dentistry.

Difficulties in using 1,3-{beta}-D-glucan as the screening test for the early diagnosis of invasive fungal infections in patients with haematological malignancies--high frequency of false-positive results and their analysis.

We have evaluated the contribution of the 1,3-beta-d-glucan (BG) assay for the screening of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in patients with haematological malignancies. Serum samples from patients at risk of IFI were collected twice a week and retrospectively tested using the BG assay. BG screening was performed on 1143 samples from 91 patients during 104 anticancer treatment cycles. Proven and probable cases of IFI occurred in 9 (8.7 %) treatment cycles. Depending on the criterion of positivity used (1x >60 pg ml(-1), 1x >80 pg ml(-1), 2x >60 pg ml(-1) or 2x >80 pg ml(-1)) the sensitivity and specificity were 89, 89, 67 and 44 %, and 20, 48, 33 and 56 %, respectively. Although the test was marked as positive in 82, 68, 54 and 45 % of all the treatment cycles, in the majority of cases, these positivities were probably false. The major limit of the BG test was an extremely low positive predictive value (10 to 12 %). We have analysed mucositis, candida colonization, bacteraemia, use of antimicrobials, erythrocyte and thrombocyte filtered blood products, collecting tubes or sampling via venous catheters. Even though no factor is a major source of BG, it could at least partially influence BG assay performance. Thus, BG detection has a limited usefulness as a screening method for IFIs in patients with haematological malignancies.