Financial incentives should be used to boost hepatitis C testing rates among difficult to reach patient groups, including people who inject drugs, a leading public health researcher says.

Professor Mark Stoové, head of public health at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, says “innovative” approaches are needed to boost testing rates and treatment uptake.

“Doing more of the same is not going to be good enough,” he told Australian Doctor.

“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be thinking about paying people to be tested and to engage in treatment.”