[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 188 (Monday, September 28, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60813-60814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21288]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Request for Information: Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan 
2021-2025 Available for Public Comment

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human 
Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of 
Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) in the Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) announces the draft Viral 
Hepatitis National Strategic Plan: A Roadmap to Elimination (2021-2025) 
(Hepatitis Plan) available for public comment. The draft Hepatitis Plan 
may be reviewed at www.hhs.gov/hepatitis.

DATES: All comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. ET on October 8, 2020 
to ensure consideration.

ADDRESSES: All comments must be submitted electronically to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Jimenez, OIDP, 
[email protected]. 202-401-5131.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Viral hepatitis is a significant public 
health threat that puts people who are infected at increased risk for 
serious disease and death. In the United States, new hepatitis A and 
hepatitis C infections have increased dramatically in recent years, 
little progress has been made on preventing hepatitis B infections, 
and, as of 2016, an estimated 3.3 million people were chronically 
infected with hepatitis B and hepatitis C.1-3 Collectively, 
viral hepatitis costs people, health systems, states, and the federal 
government billions of dollars each year 4 5 and contributes 
to substantial health disparities, stigma, and discrimination. 
Reversing the rates of viral hepatitis, preventing new infections, and 
improving care and treatment require a strategic and coordinated 
approach by federal partners in collaboration with state and local 
health departments, tribal communities, community-based organizations, 
and other nonfederal partners and stakeholders.
    To spur action to reduce new viral hepatitis infections and their 
adverse public health impact, OASH through OIDP, in collaboration with 
federal partners throughout HHS and other departments, led and 
coordinated development of the Hepatitis Plan. Opportunities for public 
input were provided, and public comments received were reviewed and 
analyzed and helped inform the components of the Hepatitis Plan.
    The Hepatitis Plan focuses on hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and 
hepatitis C--the hepatitis viruses that most significantly affect the 
health of the nation. It is an elimination plan, with the overarching 
goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat in the 
United States by 2030. The Hepatitis Plan is intended to serve as a 
roadmap for all stakeholders at all levels to eliminate hepatitis in 
this nation. The Hepatitis Plan presents a strategic framework for 
integrating and leveraging synergistic policies, programs, and 
resources. It sets forth a vision and five goals for the nation, with 
objectives and strategies for each goal. The objectives and strategies 
offered in this plan are interrelated and may be used to make progress 
toward more than one goal. The Hepatitis Plan identifies 
disproportionately impacted populations based on national hepatitis 
incidence, prevalence, and mortality data, to help federal and other 
stakeholders focus their efforts to realize the greatest impact. The 
Hepatitis Plan also includes indicators to measure progress and 
quantitative targets for each indicator. Although it is a 5-year plan, 
it sets 10-year quantitative targets for each indicator--reflecting the 
reality that it will take more than 5 years to eliminate viral 
hepatitis as a public health threat. The order in which the goals, 
objectives, strategies, and indicators are presented is not associated 
with any prioritization. The following are the Hepatitis Plan's vision 
and goals. Vision: The United States will be a place where new viral 
hepatitis infections are prevented, every person knows their status, 
and every person with viral hepatitis has high-quality health care and 
treatment and lives free from stigma and discrimination. This vision 
includes all people, regardless of age, sex, gender identity, sexual 
orientation, race, ethnicity, geographic location, or socioeconomic 
circumstance. Goals:

1. Prevent New Viral Hepatitis Infections
2. Improve Viral Hepatitis--Related Health Outcomes of People with 
Viral Hepatitis
3. Reduce Viral Hepatitis--Related Disparities and Health Inequities
4. Improve Viral Hepatitis Surveillance and Data Usage
5. Achieve Integrated, Coordinated Efforts That Address the Viral 
Hepatitis Epidemics among All Partners and Stakeholders

A roadmap for stakeholders at all levels and sectors, the Hepatitis 
Plan envisions a whole-of-nation response to preventing and controlling 
viral hepatitis in the United States. The Hepatitis Plan assumes the 
active participation of state, local, and tribal health departments and 
organizations, health plans and health care providers, schools and 
other academic institutions, community- and faith-based organizations, 
scientists, researchers, and the public in this effort. The priority 
populations, indicators, and quantitative targets, especially the 
methods used to determine them, are intended to help focus efforts and 
limited resources to realize the most impact. Stakeholders are 
encouraged to focus on activities that resonate the most with the needs 
of the populations they serve and services they provide, and, using the 
Hepatitis Plan as a framework, develop their own plans to eliminate 
viral hepatitis and improve the health of their communities, states, 
tribal nations, and the nation.

Information Needs

    The draft Hepatitis Plan may be reviewed at: www.hhs.gov/hepatitis.
    OIDP seeks to obtain feedback from external stakeholders on the 
following:
    1. Do the draft plan's goals, objectives, and strategies 
appropriately address the viral hepatitis epidemics?
    2. Are there any critical gaps in the Hepatitis Plan's goals, 
objectives, and strategies? If so, please specify the gaps.
    3. Do any of the Hepatitis Plan's goals, objectives and strategies 
cause concern? If so, please specify the goal, objective or strategy, 
and describe the concern regarding it.
    Each commenter is limited to a maximum of seven pages.

    Authority: 77 FR 15761 (March 16, 2012).

    Dated: September 22, 2020.
B. Kaye Hayes,
Acting Director, Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.

Footnotes

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Viral Hepatitis 
Surveillance--

[[Page 60814]]

United States, 2018. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 
2020. Accessed August 9, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2018surveillance/index.htm.
    2. Hofmeister MG, Rosenthal EM, Barker LK, et al. Estimating 
prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 
2013-2016. Hepatology. 2019 Mar;69(3):1020-1031. doi: 10.1002/
hep.30297.
    3. LeFevre ML. Screening for hepatitis B virus infection in 
nonpregnant adolescents and adults: US Preventive Services Task 
Force recommendation statement. Annals Internal Med. 2014;161(1):58-
66.
    4. Morey RJ, Collier MG, Nelson NP. The financial burden of 
public health responses to hepatitis A cases among food handlers, 
2012-2014. Public Health Rep. 2017;132(4):443-447. doi:10.1177/
0033354917710947.
    5. Wittenborn J, Brady J, Dougherty M, Rein D. Potential 
epidemiologic, economic, and budgetary impacts of current rates of 
hepatitis C treatment in Medicare and non-Medicare populations. 
Hepatol Commun. 2017;1(2):99-109. doi:10.1002/hep4.1031.

[FR Doc. 2020-21288 Filed 9-25-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-43-P