In a groundbreaking advance within addiction medicine and infectious disease treatment, a recent correction published in BMC Psychiatry highlights the innovative model of psychiatrist-led hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment administered directly at an opioid agonist treatment clinic in Stockholm. This approach seeks to revolutionize the HCV continuum of care, particularly among individuals receiving opioid agonist therapy (OAT), a demographic often marginalized and facing persistent healthcare barriers. The correction underscores the escalating importance of integrated multidisciplinary models targeting co-morbid conditions within vulnerable populations.
Hepatitis C remains a global public health challenge, with people who use opioids being disproportionately affected due to factors including unsafe injection practices and limited access to comprehensive medical care. Traditional paradigms often fragment addiction and infectious disease services, resulting in suboptimal screening, delayed treatment initiation, and poor adherence to antiviral regimens. The Stockholm model disrupts this paradigm by embedding psychiatric expertise in OAT clinics, facilitating timely diagnosis, management, and follow-up of HCV infection.
Psychiatrist-led treatment capitalizes on the unique position psychiatrists hold in managing opioid dependency, allowing them to address both the psychiatric component and the viral infection concurrently. This dual-focused treatment modality promotes patient trust, dramatically reducing stigma and increasing engagement with HCV care services. Psychiatrists trained in hepatology and infectious disease management can perform comprehensive evaluations, initiate direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy, and monitor treatment response within the familiar clinical setting of OAT provision.
The integration of HCV care in opioid agonist clinics addresses critical gaps by reducing logistical and infrastructural hurdles that patients typically experience. Since OAT clinics handle frequent patient contacts—often daily—this arrangement enhances medication adherence and minimizes loss to follow-up. Directly observed therapy and on-site multidisciplinary collaboration further ensure consistent viral suppression, leading not only to individual cure but also to broader community-level reductions in HCV transmission.
This model’s technical underpinning involves leveraging recent advancements in direct-acting antivirals that have revolutionized HCV management. DAAs offer high cure rates, shortened treatment durations, and improved side effect profiles compared to interferon-era therapies. Psychiatrists’ involvement ensures psychological and behavioral comorbidities, which might otherwise complicate antiviral adherence and outcomes, are meticulously addressed, optimizing overall treatment success.
Clinical data emerging from the Stockholm initiative demonstrate promising outcomes, including increased screening rates, shortened time from diagnosis to treatment, and enhanced sustained virologic response (SVR) rates among OAT patients. These findings highlight the potential scalability of this integrated care model in other settings grappling with overlapping epidemics of opioid use and viral hepatitis.
Crucially, the psychiatrist-led framework also embraces a holistic patient-centered philosophy. It recognizes the complex biopsychosocial dimensions of opioid-dependent individuals, who frequently encounter mental health disorders, homelessness, and social marginalization. Comprehensive care delivered within this model anticipates and mitigates challenges to health engagement, including substance use relapse, psychiatric instability, and social determinants adversely influencing treatment adherence.
From a public health perspective, the eradication of hepatitis C within OAT populations has significant ripple effects. Treating HCV at the intersection of opioid substitution therapy reduces the reservoir of infection, diminishing onward HCV transmission through injection networks. This aligns with World Health Organization targets aiming for global hepatitis C elimination by 2030, marking the psychiatrist-led approach as a critical strategic innovation.
Furthermore, the model fosters enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration, amalgamating addiction psychiatry, infectious diseases, hepatology, and public health domains. Such alliances enrich the clinical protocols, improve training processes, and promote a culture of shared responsibility in tackling intertwined epidemics. The correction affirms the pivotal role of psychiatrists not only as mental health specialists but as integral agents in infectious disease control.
Importantly, this paradigm challenges existing healthcare silos and advocates for structural reforms to integrate care pathways. Policymakers and healthcare providers must recognize that no single specialty can effectively manage the multiple intersecting health challenges faced by opioid-dependent populations. Instead, psychiatrists’ leadership in HCV treatment at OAT clinics exemplifies the transformative potential of cross-disciplinary synergy.
The Stockholm example thus serves as a scalable blueprint demanding validation in diverse geographic and clinical contexts. Future research evaluating cost-effectiveness, patient satisfaction, and long-term outcomes will be vital to drive broader adoption. Early evidence suggests that embedding infectious disease care directly into addiction services yields measurable improvements in population health metrics.
In sum, the corrected article elucidates a vital innovation in the quest to close gaps in HCV care among opioid agonist patients. Psychiatrists’ active role in delivering HCV treatment at OAT clinics enhances access, adherence, and cure rates, embodying a pragmatic, evidence-based response to dual epidemics. As the global healthcare community continues to confront complex comorbidities in marginalized populations, such integrated models herald a new era in patient-centric, multidisciplinary treatment delivery.
Subject of Research: Psychiatrist-led hepatitis C (HCV) treatment within opioid agonist treatment clinics to improve the HCV continuum of care.
Article Title: Correction: Psychiatrist-led hepatitis C (HCV) treatment at an opioid agonist treatment clinic in Stockholm – a model to enhance the HCV continuum of care
Article References:
Klasa, P.E., Sandell, M., Aleman, S. et al. Correction: Psychiatrist-led hepatitis C (HCV) treatment at an opioid agonist treatment clinic in Stockholm – a model to enhance the HCV continuum of care. BMC Psychiatry 25, 746 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07203-6
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