Care Without Barriers
Jennifer Elton is meeting hepatitis C patients where they are to increase access to treatment.
Hepatitis C is a curable viral liver infection, but for many patients, treatment remains out of reach. Jennifer Elton, DNP ’25, is working to change the health outcomes and lives of these patients.
Because hepatitis C is a blood-borne disease frequently associated with shared injection equipment, patients often face stigma that can discourage them from seeking care. Add to that limited access to specialists, transportation barriers, and costs, and not enough patients receive necessary care after their initial diagnosis.
Elton saw this firsthand while working as a family nurse practitioner at the Sacramento County Sexual Health Clinic. When it came time to pick a doctoral project for her Doctor of Nursing Practice program, she wanted to focus on patients who tested positive for hepatitis C and were referred externally but never completed treatment.
“Our patients weren’t getting the tests and seeing the specialists they needed for treatment,” says Elton, who is now a faculty member in Samuel Merritt University’s Family Nurse Practitioner program. “Patients would return to our clinic with untreated hepatitis C.”
To close that care gap, Elton developed new workflows and treatment protocols that allow patients to begin hepatitis C treatment directly within the clinic. While treatment once required multiple visits and specialist management, newer simplified national guidelines now enable nurse practitioners and other primary care providers to treat many patients without referrals, reducing barriers to care.
“Patients trust me and we already have a connection,” she says. “If I’m the person giving them that diagnosis and I’m the person who can treat them, their outcomes are more promising.”
The results of her study were very hopeful. Within three months of implementing the new protocols, the clinic saw a 44 percent increase in eligible hepatitis C patients receiving treatment prescriptions.
Throughout her DNP work, Elton was mentored by Assistant Professor Rebecca Owen, ELMSN-FNP ’11, DNP ’19, who served as her dissertation chair. Today, they are faculty colleagues collaborating to expand Elton’s initial research project at Elica Health Centers in Sacramento.
“Dr. Owen’s belief in my work was inspiring — that if I stuck with it and stayed steady, I could make it happen,” Elton says. “She was so generous in sharing her knowledge, experience, and support throughout the project, and that continues now that we’re colleagues.”
“Eliminating hepatitis C gives people a new chance at health,” Elton continues. “It’s something that’s curable, and in medicine we don’t get to cure diseases very often.”
