People who use drugs (PWUD) are disproportionately impacted by hepatitis C (HCV), and there is opportunity to address HCV via the programs to which PWUD are connected, such as drug treatment programs. In 2020, the Addiction Technology Transfer Care (ATTC) Network released a new tool, Your Guide to Integrating HCV Services into Opioid Treatment Programs. In 2022, the ATTC released an update and supplement to the original guide, providing additional context about the impact of the COVID pandemic on substance use and its related harms. As the infectious disease and substance use fields have increasingly integrated programs and services, the ATTC, in partnership with the Opioid Response Network (ORN), sought to update the guide again in 2024, with an emphasis on a syndemic approach to infectious disease prevention in OTP settings.
ATTC/ORN hired Facente Consulting to update the guide, with an eye toward defining and exploring a syndemic approach and including information about HIV and syphilis testing and treatment interventions in addition to HCV interventions. In collaboration with ATTC and ORN, we updated and aligned the guide content, including specific information about testing mechanisms, treatment possibilities, and linkage strategies across the three infectious diseases. We also updated the visual layout of the guide, reducing narrative text in favor of more streamlined, eye-catching visuals. Finally, Facente Consulting attended a focus group of OTP providers who had reviewed the draft guide, incorporating their suggested edits and additions into the final draft.