ASHM - Hepatitis C Community Prescriber (shared care) program

Hepatitis C Community Prescriber (shared care) program

Background

Following the cessation and final evaluation of the HCV community prescribing pilot in 2007, an ongoing program of shared care was endorsed by the Highly Specialised Drugs Working Party. NSW Health has funded ASHM to roll out the hepatitis C community prescriber program (shared care) in NSW. The conditions of the shared care program are the same as the preceding pilot, i.e. that the prescriber must be linked to a specialist affiliated with a hepatitis C treatment clinic at a public hospital and the specialist must initiate treatment. HCV prescribers are authorised to write second and ongoing scripts which must be dispensed from a public hospital pharmacy.

The HCV Community s100 prescribing program (Shared Care) is dedicated to providing on-going training and facilitates means by which prescribers can attain CME points. As part of the initial accreditation process to become an s100 HCV community prescriber, a medical practitioner must fulfil each of the four criteria outlined in the National Standards for Certification of Community HCV s100 Prescribers (2007).

Criterion 1	Completion of an accredited training course or recognition of prior learning
Criterion 2	Knowledge of your state/territory guidelines for the management of occupational exposure to HCV and infection control guidelines
Criterion 3	Access to appropriate support from senior clinicians working in a designated Liver Clinic treatment unit in a public hospital and access to other clinic staff and services.
Criterion 4	Commitment to ongoing HCV specific medical education

In order to maintain HCV (s100) prescriber rights, community medical practitioners must participate in continuing medical education (CME) relevant to the use of s100 drugs for the management of HCV. If you are interested in becoming a HCV s100 prescriber please submit your expression of interest .

Please view the National Standards for the accreditation of Community HCV s100 Education Programs and the National Standard for certification of community HCV s100 prescribers that govern the ASHM s100 Hepatitis C Community Prescriber program.

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National standards for certification (pdf)

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National standards for accreditation (pdf)

Clinical Placements

Clinical placements provide new and existing prescribers with the opportunity to explore clinical and practical aspects of managing a patient with HCV and associated conditions. ASHM is able to arrange clinical placements at a number of clinics.

Scholarships are available to assist regional prescribers in NSW and ACT to attend clinical placements in a capital city. Download an application here.

Expressions of Interest
If you are interested in a clinical placement please submit your expression of interest here