Incarcerated populations have higher rates of HBV and HCV infections than the general population. Screening of all incarcerated people for risk factors can identify those who need blood tests for infection and, if appropriate, treatment.
Recommendation 5-8. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Justice should create an initiative to foster partnerships between health departments and corrections systems to ensure the availability of comprehensive viral hepatitis services for incarcerated people.
The Health Resources and Services Administration administers grant programs across the country to deliver primary care to uninsured and underinsured people in community health centers, migrant health centers, homeless programs, and public-housing primary-care programs. In general, funding of viral hepatitis services at community health centers is inadequate. Because community health centers provide primary health care for many people who are at risk for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, it is important for them to offer comprehensive viral hepatitis services.
Recommendation 5-9. The Health Resources and Services Administration should provide adequate resources to federally funded community health facilities for provision of comprehensive viral-hepatitis services.
STD and HIV clinics, shelter-based programs, and mobile health units are settings that serve populations that are at risk for hepatitis B and hepatitis C. The populations that use the settings may not have access to care through traditional health-care venues. Integration of viral hepatitis services into those settings creates opportunities to identify at-risk clients and to get them other services that they need.
Recommendation 5-10. The Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should provide resources and guidance to integrate comprehensive viral hepatitis services into settings that serve high-risk populations such as STD