The Beyond the C program is part of a national program called ‘National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project
Beyond the C is led by ASHM (formerly the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine). National Hepatitis C 50,000 Project is a national initiative between primary care, community-based organisations, and researchers with the aim of finding 68,890 people living with hepatitis C who have not accessed treatment, support and care.
General Practices play a critical role in this program. We know that there are many Australians living with hepatitis C who have been tested in the past but have not proceeded to treatment, have disengaged from care, or have been lost to follow up. The Beyond the C program follows on from the success of the Pilot Program which ran in 2021.
With special guests Dr Jacqui Richmond (EC Australia), Carrie Fowlie (Hepatitis Australia), Brett Stevens (ASHM) and Joe Staniszewski & Daniel Hunt (Derbarl Yerrigan Health Services)
When you join the program, you’ll have personalised support through our Quality Improvemet Advisor and local health services, along with ongoing access to a suite of tools and resources to guide you to address hepatitis C at a practice population level
Schedule a meeting with Quality Improvement Advisor.
How many people in your practice have hep C?
Use the PDSA framework to do this systematically. Aim to eliminate hepatitis C you’re your practices by ensuring everyone who is at risk of hepatitis C has a negative RNA. Some people will need testing, some will need treating and others will simply need their records updated.
Do you need to clean your data? are there practice processes and procedures that can be modified to routinely assess risk of hepatitis C. Ensure everyone at risk of hepatitis C has a negative RNA.
Hepatitis C treatment can prevent cirrhosis and liver cancer. Offer treatment to everyone living with hepatitis C and help change lives
You will have access to personalised support and the opportunity to take advantage of ASHMs suite of educational resources
ASHM is an RACGP-accredited CPD Provider. The Beyond the C program has been accredited in the 2023–2026 RACGP / ACRRM PD Program for 5 Outcome Measurement hours.
As part of the program you will conduct case finding and a clinical audit using your medical software to help you identify people for hepatitis C testing and treatment. You will follow quality improvement processes to connect these people with ongoing care.
Coordinate your team, allocate roles, and plan your approach
Follow up patients and offer testing, treatment and ongoing care
Assess the clinical needs of each patient and develop follow-up plans
Follow up patients and offer testing and treatment
Beyond the C program has been designed to be semi-self directed. Guiding you and your team through the various steps to data searching and Quality Improvement activities to increase hepatitis C knowledge and confidence in these processes.
Beyond the C takes on a whole-of-practice approach, identifying potential roles and suggested activities. Team members within your practice may take on one or more of these roles:
Determining the learning needs of each project team member
Project reporting and data submission
Ensuring all key deliverables are met according to the project timeline
Use data analysis tools and clinical software to search for patients using specific search criteria
Apply filters to customise database searching
Develop an audit list and register of patients with hepatitis C or at risk of hepatitis C
Use the audit tool in conjunction with clinical software to complete a manual audit of each patient record
Use clinical coding to update patient records as cases are confirmed
Use a recall system to manage patient follow up including setup, adding recalls, generating recalls messages and managing patient responses.
Update the audit record with outcomes of patient follow up
Requesting tests as relevant for each patient
Determining and monitoring treatment regimes
Updating patient clinical record
The project is designed to be completed within a 6 month cycle.
The time commitment for your practice may vary with your practice’s data management, and experience with quality improvement projects. You can complete the project earlier if all learning and reporting commitments are completed.
Report your project findings
Completion of pre- and post-program evaluation surveys.
Submission of deidentified data, including the number of people:
Completion of a quality improvement cycle:
Beyond the C offers your practice an opportunity to develop processes and skills in case-finding, clinical auditing and quality improvement – all with the personalised support of an expert, along with access to high-quality training and resources. The skills and processes you learn here will be invaluable in improving your quality of care in other areas of patient care.
The program helps you to align with the Quality Improvement Practice Incentive Program. Participating practices in the Beyond the C program receive an incentive payment of $4,000 when you complete the project milestones.
By connecting with people living with hepatitis C, you have an opportunity to prevent significant long-term health issues and improve their overall health and quality of life – and help us move towards the goal of eliminating hepatitis C as a major health concern.
Whilst the Australian Department of Health provides financial assistance to ASHM, the material contained in this resource produced by ASHM should not be taken to represent the views of the Australian Department of Health. The content of this resource is the sole responsibility of ASHM Health.
Acknowledgement of Country
ASHM acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across the various lands on which we live and work. We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ continuing connection to land, water, and community and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. ASHM acknowledges Sovereignty in this country has never been ceded. It always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
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