WVHAMP is a free, in-person and tele-mentoring partnership designed for primary care providers to link with disease experts for hepatitis C training. WVHAMP is designed to build a mentorship platform that is accessible to primary care providers caring for high-risk individuals throughout West Virginia, so that individuals with chronic hepatitis C can be cared for and cured in their own community
WVHAMP Course Goals
Recruit primary care providers practicing in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), hospitals, and rural community clinics in high-risk communities throughout West Virginia.
Establish a primary care workforce trained by hepatitis C experts to screen, diagnose, treat, and follow up with the goal of curing persons with chronic hepatitis C infection throughout West Virginia, including high-risk, rural, and low-resource settings.
Remove barriers to care for individuals diagnosed with hepatitis C.
Increase the number of West Virginians living with hepatitis C who are successfully linked to care and cured.
WVHAMP Course Objectives
Understand strategies to identify persons with chronic hepatitis C infection.
Understand hepatitis C epidemiology, screening, diagnosis, management, treatment, cure and prevention.
Understand the burden of hepatitis C infection in high risk groups in West Virginia and throughout the Appalachian Region.
Understand staging of liver disease and hepatitis C counseling and transmission risks.
Understand recent and evolving changes to West Virginia’s Medicaid Program and how these changes impact viral hepatitis treatment in West Virginia.
Understand how the increase in hepatitis C infection is related to the growing opioid epidemic in West Virginia and the U.S.
Have knowledge of injection drug use and describe the ways to enhance access to hepatitis C screening and treatment services for substance users.
Understand the infrastructure necessary to support hepatitis care, treatment and cure in primary care settings.
Identify screening for hepatitis C during pregnancy and the potential for perinatal transmission.
Understand procedures for screening, testing, treatment and cure of babies born to mothers with hepatitis C infection.
What is Expected
Participants will make a commitment to participate in WVHAMP trainings for at least 12 months.
Interested providers apply to attend the WVHAMP day-long in-person Cycle 1 training. Free hotel accommodation is available the night before the initial training session.
After the Cycle 1 training, complete the follow-up evening WVHAMP Educational Webinars every 2 months. Providers will present challenges and patient cases to their peers and WVHAMP Mentorship Team for feedback and guidance
Complete the half-day WVHAMP Cycle 2 training. Participating providers will receive additional hepatitis C training.
Complete the WVHAMP Hepatitis Consultation Form for each patient that has been fully evaluated and fax the form to WVHAMP’s Secure Cloud Fax line.
Mentors review the Consultation Form, advise on the proposed treatment regimen and approve the treatment plan.
Mentors provide backup for complex cases as needed.
Participants will be provided an annual membership to the West Virginia Rural Health Association.
Participants will have access to WVHAMP training materials/tool kit both as hard copy and on the West Virginia Rural Health Association website via a designated link..
WVHAMP planners have applied for Continuing Education Credits for participation.
At the completion of WVHAMP, providers will be awarded a WVHAMP Scholar Certificate.
Half day training will be registered for privately and is required for completion after each full day training
Next half day training — November 9th, 2021
