Are Baby Boomers At Risk for Liver Disease?

Earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation requiring all primary care providers and hospitals offer Hepatitis C screening to all baby boomers in New York State. Those individuals born between 1945 and 1965 – baby boomers – currently account for over 70 percent of the 3 to 4 million Americans living with Hepatitis C who are at risk for developing advanced liver cancer.

UBMD Internal Medicine’s primary care providers provide Hepatitis C screening at our Dent Office, 3980 Sheridan Dr., 6th floor in Amherst, at our Med-Peds Office, 300 Linwood Ave. at Utica, and the Hertel Elmwood Internal Medicine Center, 900 Hertel Ave., both in Buffalo. In addition, our Gastroenterology-Hepatology specialists provide screenings in Buffalo General’s Building D Specialty Clinic.

“The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently endorsed the CDC’s recommendation for this screening to be covered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA),” according to Andrew H. Talal, MD, chief of the Gastroenterology-Hepatology Division at UBMD Internal Medicine. “Since an estimated 50 to 75 percent of people infected with Hepatitis C are unaware that they are infected, this is a tremendously important step toward enabling us to engage these individuals in care for the infection.”

Hepatitis C is a leading cause of liver disease and deaths from hepatitis C-related liver disease now exceed deaths from HIV. However, the majority of people with chronic Hepatitis C have never been screened or diagnosed. Hepatitis C is curable, if diagnosed and treated.

For an appointment at the Amherst office on Sheridan, call 961-9900. In Buffalo on Linwood the number is 961-9904. The Hertel Elmwood number is 871-1571, and for a Buffalo General Specialty Clinic appointment, call 859-2175.

UBMD Internal Medicine offers primary and specialty care in 11 sub-specialties. Internal Medicine is one of 19 medical practices of the UBMD Physicians’ Group headquartered at 77 Goodell Street on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

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