Your Care Team

The care team for hepatitis C, in my opinion, starts with the primary care provider, because the best person to make the diagnosis is somebody who screens for hepatitis C. Now once the diagnosis of hepatitis C is made, the patient is usually referred to a referral or a specialist center, and the starting point is a physician.

The specialist that is involved is either a gastroenterologist or a hepatologist, or sometimes an infectious disease physician. I think it's important for you to select your physician based on his or her experience in managing hepatitis C.

Hence, most patients would see a hepatologist, which is a liver specialist, for the management of hepatitis C. However, based on where the patient lives, sometimes the patient may not have access to a hepatologist, which means the other type of physician could be either a gastroenterologist or an infectious disease physician.