Many individuals are involved in screening, which must be reimbursed, not taking into account the increased usage of equipment and supplies to administer and obtain blood samples. If only a relatively few individuals are Hep C positive or exposed to Hep C, aggressive efforts for screening may not have a societal benefit and may be a waste of resources when viewed through a cost benefit lens. In a similar branch of thinking, similar to the rates of prostate cancer, mass screenings of Hep C, or any condition, may lead to an artificially increased rates, as if we are specifically looking for something we are more likely to find it. This may cause a sudden increase of Hep C incidence, when in reality these cases already existed in the population, but were just not diagnosed. Mass screenings can lead to over diagnosis and in some cases false positives, these both create anxiety in individuals and can lead to population
Many individuals are involved in screening, which must be reimbursed, not taking into account the increased usage of equipment and supplies to administer and obtain blood samples. If only a relatively few individuals are Hep C positive or exposed to Hep C, aggressive efforts for screening may not have a societal benefit and may be a waste of resources when viewed through a cost benefit lens. In a similar branch of thinking, similar to the rates of prostate cancer, mass screenings of Hep C, or any condition, may lead to an artificially increased rates, as if we are specifically looking for something we are more likely to find it. This may cause a sudden increase of Hep C incidence, when in reality these cases already existed in the population, but were just not diagnosed. Mass screenings can lead to over diagnosis and in some cases false positives, these both create anxiety in individuals and can lead to population