The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Vulnerable Populations

Target Audience

The educational design of this activity addresses the needs of primary care clinicians potentially involved in screening, counseling, or treating hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Program Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a disproportional toll on already vulnerable persons, yet substance use, psychosocial comorbidities, and preexisting disparities in access to care may translate to an even greater adverse impact among persons with chronic HCV. This educational activity offers frontline clinicians guidance on management of COVID-infected patients with stable liver disease, practical strategies for optimizing telehealth-delivered HCV care, and other recommendations for engaging vulnerable populations in HCV care during times of reduced service capacity.^1-3

References

1. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). COVID-19 and the liver. https://www.aasld.org/about-aasld/covid-19-and-liver. Accessed July 5, 2021.
2. Kaufman HW, et al. Decreases in hepatitis C testing and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Prev Med. 2021 (Epub ahead of print).
3. Valdiserri RO, et al. The uses of adversity: leveraging the COVID-19 response to eliminate viral hepatitis. Health Affairs Blog. 2020. https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200624.84875/full/. Accessed July 5, 2021.

Educational Objective

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

• Describe the impact of COVID-19 on the HCV-infected liver and on access to care among vulnerable populations

Faculty

Ricardo Franco, MD (Moderator)
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
University of Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama

David L. Wyles, MD
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Denver Health
Professor of Medicine
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Denver, Colorado

Physician Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Global Education Group (Global) and Integritas Communications. Global is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physician Credit Designation

Global Education Group designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing Continuing Education

Global Education Group is accredited with distinction as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

This educational activity for 0.25 contact hour is provided by Global Education Group. Nurses should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Term of Offering

This activity was released on September 30, 2021 and is valid for 1 year. Requests for credit must be made no later than September 30, 2022.

Global Contact Information

For information about the accreditation of this program, please contact Global at 303-395-1782 or cme@globaleducationgroup.com.

Instructions to Receive Credit

In order to receive credit for this activity, the participant must review the activity as well as successfully complete the posttest and evaluation form.

System Requirements

PC
1.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or faster processor (or equivalent)
Windows 10, 8.1 (32-bit/64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit/64-bit)
512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)
Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 or later, Windows Edge browser, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome
For HTML Client – Google Chrome (v70.0 & above), Mozilla Firefox (v65.0 & above), and Edge (v42.0 & above)

MAC
1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo or faster processor
512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)
MAC OS X 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14
Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome
For HTML Client – Google Chrome (v70.0 & above), Apple Safari (v12.0 & above), and Mozilla Firefox (v65.0 & above)

Fee Information & Refund/Cancellation Policy

There is no fee for this educational activity.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Global Education Group (Global) adheres to the policies and guidelines, including the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited CE, set forth to providers by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and all other professional organizations, as applicable, stating those activities where continuing education credits are awarded must be balanced, independent, objective, and scientifically rigorous. All persons in a position to control the content of an accredited continuing education program provided by Global are required to disclose all financial relationships with any ineligible company within the past 24 months to Global. All financial relationships reported are identified as relevant and mitigated by Global in accordance with the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited CE in advance of delivery of the activity to learners. The content of this activity was vetted by Global to assure objectivity and that the activity is free of commercial bias.

All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated.

The faculty have the following relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies:

Ricardo Franco, MD: Consulting Fees: Theratechnologies Inc. Contracted Research: AbbVie Inc., Gilead Sciences, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc.

David L. Wyles, MD: Consulting Fee: Gilead Sciences, Inc. 

The planners and managers have the following relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies:

Rhys Williams, RN, MSN, FNP: Nothing to disclose
Lindsay Borvansky: Nothing to disclose
Andrea Funk: Nothing to disclose
Liddy Knight: Nothing to disclose
Ashley Cann: Nothing to disclose
Jeanette Ruby, MD: Nothing to disclose
Jim Kappler, PhD: Nothing to disclose

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Global Education Group (Global) and Integritas Communications do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization associated with this activity. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of patient conditions and possible contraindications or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.