Our Nurse Navigator is your first point of contact for all services and is available Monday to Friday, 9 am – 5 pm (Syd/Melb/Canb time).  You can reach them by:

• calling 1800 437 222;
• emailing [email protected];
• or by booking an appointment on this page.

If a telehealth consultation with our Nurse Practitioner is needed, our Nurse Navigator will schedule this for you on a Tuesday or Thursday, 9 am – 5 pm (Syd/Melb/Canb time). 

Yes. Access to our service is fully bulk billed and is available at no cost to you.  

1. Initial consultation: You’ll speak with our Nurse Navigator about your health history , including any test results or diagnoses you may have. 
2. Testing: If needed, we’ll provide pathology forms for blood tests. 
3. Treatment: You’ll have a consultation with our Nurse Practitioner who will review your results and, if suitable, prescribe a course of daily tablets known as direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). You will need to take the daily tablets for 8 to 12 weeks. 
4. Support & cure: Your prescriptions can be sent directly to you via SMS or to your local pharmacy. A follow-up blood test 4-12 weeks after treatment will confirm if you are cured. We can also link you with your local community hepatitis organisation for support and service information if required.  

Here’s a handy checklist 

Try to be in a quiet and private place, be connected to secure internet, and have your video on where possible.  

Having these details ready will help our nurse get your treatment started faster: 

1. Medicare details: Your 10-digit Medicare number, expiry date, and the reference number next to your name. 
2. Blood test results: If you have had a blood test in the last 6 months, have the results (or the name of the clinic that did the test) handy. You can also email them to [email protected] prior to your initial consultation to allow our nurse to review your results in advance.  
3. Current medications: A list of any vitamins, supplements, or prescription medications you are currently taking. 
4. Health history: Any information regarding other conditions, specifically hepatitis B, HIV, or known liver issues.  We also need to know if you have been treated for hepatitis C previously. 

Our Nurse Navigator is your first point of contact for all services and is available Monday to Friday, 9 am – 5 pm (Syd/Melb/Canb time). You can reach them by calling 1800 437 222 or by booking an appointment on this page. If a telehealth consultation with our Nurse Practitioner is needed, our Nurse Navigator will schedule this for you on a Tuesday or Thursday, 9 am – 5 pm (Syd/Melb/Canb time). 

Consultations can happen via phone, laptop, tablet or computer. No special apps are required, as links to access your consultation will be sent via SMS or email. 

HepLink uses a secure AI screening platform to help make your appointment smooth and well organised. This platform assists the HepLink nurse during your appointment by helping capture important information about your health and ensuring key details from your consultation are recorded so nothing important is missed. You will be asked to provide consent for the AI screening platform before each consultation. A consent notification will be sent to your phone for you to review and confirm prior to the appointment. These tools are designed to support, not replace, the HepLink team, ensuring you receive safe, efficient and well-coordinated care. 

Yes. Our consultations use industry-standard encryption, and our practitioners conduct appointments in a private, secure environment. You can see our full privacy policy here.

No. We can only script hepatitis C medications. This service is a hepatitis C treatment service only. If you need other prescriptions, we may discuss referring you to your doctor or another doctor for those medicines. 

Call 131 450 (TIS - Telephone Interpreting Service) and ask them to call HepLink on 1800 437 222. 

Yes. You need a Medicare card to use the HepLink telehealth service to get hepatitis C treatment.  

You do not need a Medicare card to contact HepLink. If you are living with hepatitis C and do not have Medicare, the Nurse Navigator can help you understand other options for treatment.  

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are highly trained and experienced Registered Nurses who have completed advanced education—typically a Master’s degree approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA)—and have extensive clinical experience in their area of practice. They are endorsed to provide advanced clinical care and can assess, diagnose, and manage a wide range of health conditions. Nurse Practitioners work both independently and collaboratively with other health professionals across a variety of settings. Nurse Practitioners bridge the gap between nursing and medicine, providing accessible, holistic, and patient-centred care.

What Nurse Practitioners do in the HepLink program
Within the HepLink Hepatitis C Telehealth Service, Nurse Practitioners play a central role in delivering safe, accessible, and streamlined care.

They can:

• Assess your health and discuss your needs via telehealth
• Order and interpret hepatitis C tests and other investigations
• Prescribe hepatitis C treatment where appropriate
• Develop and manage your treatment plan
• Provide ongoing support and follow-up throughout your care where appropriate
• Link you with other healthcare professionals if needed

By providing care remotely, Nurse Practitioners help reduce barriers such as distance, stigma, and long wait times—making it easier to access treatment and support, wherever you are.

Why this matters
Hepatitis C is now highly curable, but many people still face challenges accessing care. Through HepLink, Nurse Practitioners make it easier to get tested, treated, and supported—helping more people access life-changing care, sooner.

Registered Nurses (RNs) are a key part of the HepLink team, helping people access hepatitis C care safely and conveniently through telehealth.

What RNs do
RNs provide support throughout your treatment journey, offering education and guidance. They help make sure you understand your treatment, answer questions, and connect you with other healthcare or community services if needed.

They can:

• Take your health history and assess your suitability for the remote program
• Talk with you about your health and answer your questions via telehealth
• Explain hepatitis C, your treatment options, and what to expect
• Monitor your progress and provide follow-up support during treatment where appropriate
• Link you with additional healthcare or community services if needed
• Work closely with your referring clinician to ensure coordinated care

Why this matters
Hepatitis C is now highly curable, but many people face barriers such as distance, limited access to specialists, or stigma. Registered Nurses in the HepLink program make it easier to get treatment and support, helping you stay on track and connected with the care you need—wherever you are.

If you require a blood test for hepatitis C, we can email or mail pathology request forms. Alternatively, you can provide us with existing blood test results indicating current hepatitis C infection at your initial consultation. Please note this blood test must have been conducted within the last six months. 

If you have recent blood test results (from the last 6 months), we encourage you to send them to HepLink before your appointment by emailing them to our Nurse at [email protected]. Providing your results in advance helps the nurse review your information ahead of your consultation and can help speed up the assessment and treatment process. If you don’t have a copy, that’s okay — we can still discuss this during your appointment. 

It’s ok if you have a positive hepatitis C blood test from another service. You can share this test result at your initial consultation. We’ll need a blood test from within the last six months showing an active hepatitis C infection. If additional blood tests are needed, we can arrange them for you.  

The test for cure (also called SVR) is an important follow-up blood test done 4-12 weeks after finishing treatment to confirm the hepatitis C virus is gone. We can provide you with the pathology request forms for this blood test. 

Prescriptions for hepatitis C treatments (Direct Acting Anti-Viral or DAAs) can be sent as e-prescriptions (QR codes) to a smartphone or emailed directly to a local pharmacy of your choice for collection. We can help you find a pharmacy where you can collect DAAs.  

For Medicare eligible patients, hepatitis C treatment is PBS-subsidised and often very low cost, depending on your concession status. You won’t pay more than $25 for each script. If you have a concession card it will cost less than $8 for each script.

Modern DAA treatments are generally well tolerated with only minor side effects, like mild headaches or tiredness. We will talk through potential side effects with you. 

Yes, modern treatments cure over 95% of people within 8 to 12 weeks.  

Remember that being cured from hepatitis C does not mean you can’t get it again. Reinfection is possible if you are exposed to the virus again. See our website for more information about protecting yourself from hepatitis C. https://www.heplink.au/hepatitis_c 

You do not need to stop using alcohol or drugs to access treatment.  

If you would like support regarding your alcohol or drug use, you can find more information by contacting the Alcohol and Drug Foundation www.adf.org.au. 

Yes, being cured does not provide immunity. Reinfection is possible if you are exposed to the virus again. See our website for more information about protecting yourself from hepatitis C. https://www.heplink.au/hepatitis_c 

Yes, HepLink can assist you to find a needle and syringe program in your area. We can also link you in with your local community hepatitis organisation who may be able to provide peer support and other wrap around services. Call 1800 437 222 and speak with our Nurse Navigator. 

The HepLink Hepatitis C Telehealth Service supports access to assessment and treatment for people living with hepatitis C through a nurse-led, remote prescribing model.

Eligibility :

• Be aged 18 years or older
• Hold a valid Medicare card **

May require specialist referral instead:

• Suspected or confirmed decompensated cirrhosis
• Complex comorbidities requiring specialist input
• Clinical scenarios outside the scope of nurse practitioner-led care

If you are unsure about suitability, please contact the HepLink team to discuss.

• To be prescribed treatment, a confirmatory RNA serology is required. However, clients with a positive HCV antibody result can still be referred to the telehealth service, and the HepLink Telehealth Service team can arrange the necessary RNA pathology
• ** If the client does not hold a Medicare card, referrals may still be submitted. The HepLink Telehealth Service team will review eligibility for alternative subsidy or compassionate access programs

HepLink offers two referral pathways to support timely and flexible access to care, depending on the level of clinical information available.

Clinical Referral Pathway (where clinical information is available)

This referral pathway is intended for health services and healthcare professionals who have access to the client’s clinical history and relevant hepatitis C pathology.

Referral option include:

• Submit via the HepLink Telehealth Service Clinical Pathways Referral Form

Supported Referral Pathway (where clinical information is limited or unavailable)

This referral pathway is intended for partners and services where clinical information may be limited or unavailable, enabling access through flexible referral options.

Referral options include:

• Submit via the HepLink Telehealth Service Supported Pathway Referral Form
• Phone : 1800 437 222 to refer a client or arrange an appointment
• Email: [email protected] (include client name, DOB and contact details)

What happens next

• The HepLink team reviews the referral
• The client is contacted to arrange a telehealth appointment
• Telehealth consultation with a Nurse Navigator and/or Nurse Practitioner is completed
• Clinical assessment and treatment initiation occur where appropriate

If the client cannot be contacted after multiple attempts, the referrer will be notified to support follow-up and re-engagement.

A confirmed hepatitis C RNA positive result is required for treatment through HepLink.

Required serology:

Hepatitis C RNA (PCR) positive result within the past 6 months

Recommended serology (where available):

• Liver function tests (LFTs)
• Hepatitis B serology
• HIV testing

Referrals can still be accepted without all serology investigations. The HepLink team can arrange required pathology where needed, though this may delay treatment.

Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) HCV RNA result are accepted, if the client’s full name appears on the report.

Liver fibrosis assessment is optional and not required for referral. 

However, if a liver fibrosis assessment has been undertaken within the past 6 months, please include the results with the referral. 

Where serology or health history indicates potential advanced liver disease, a liver fibrosis assessment may be requested by the Nurse Practitioner. Clients with suspected advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis will be managed in accordance with clinical guidelines, including referral to specialist services where appropriate 

Clients with results suggestive of advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis (e.g. FibroScan ≥12.5 kPa, APRI ≥1.0, or FIB-4 >3.25) will be further assessed by the Nurse Practitioner. 

Accepted non-invasive fibrosis assessments include: 

• FibroScan®  
• APRI (AST to Platelet Ratio Index)  
• FIB-4 score  

HepLink is a nationally available, nurse-led telehealth service designed to complement existing healthcare services.  Clients are connected to a Nurse Navigator (RN) and Nurse Practitioner (NP) via telehealth, enabling treatment initiation without in-person attendance 

Registered Nurses (RNs): 

Registered Nurses provide client-centred support, offering education, guidance, and practical assistance throughout the treatment pathway. 

Role includes: 

• Undertaking intake and assessing program suitability  

• Providing education to promote treatment understanding and engagement  

• Coordinating appointments  

• Responding to clinical and practical queries  

• Liaising with referrers and relevant services where appropriate 

Availability: 
Monday – Friday, 9:30am – 4:00pm (AEST) 

Nurse Practitioners (NPs): 

Nurse Practitioners deliver safe, accessible, and streamlined clinical care, overseeing hepatitis C treatment in line with current guidelines. 

Role includes: 

• Conducting clinical assessments via telehealth  

• Ordering and interpreting investigations  

• Prescribing PBS-listed direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy  

• Developing and overseeing treatment plans  

• Providing clinical support and follow-up as appropriate  

• Assessing for complications, including advanced liver disease, and facilitating referral to specialist services where indicated  

Availability: 
Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00am – 4:00pm (AEST) 

HepLink works collaboratively with referring clinicians and health services to support coordinated, client-centred care. Referrers play a key role in linking clients to HepLink and encouraging engagement. 

• HepLink contacts referred clients to arrange appointments.  

• If contact is unsuccessful, the referrer is notified to assist with follow-up.  

• Updates are provided at key points in care to support shared care where appropriate.  

While HepLink delivers remote, treatment-focused care, referrers provide local support—reinforcing engagement, addressing barriers, and helping clients stay connected. Referrers are encouraged to check in with clients about four weeks post-referral. 

HepLink provides treatment-focused, short-term care and does not replace ongoing primary care. 

Hepatitis C treatment is provided using PBS-listed direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies, in line with current Australian guidelines. 

Treatment is individualised based on clinical assessment, and drug–drug interaction checks are undertaken to support safe prescribing. 

Consultations are provided at no cost to the client; standard PBS co-payment may apply at the point of dispensing. 

If you would like hepatitis C information and resources, please visit our website https://www.heplink.au/hepatitis_c, or email us at [email protected] 

Yes. Contact 1800 437 222 or email [email protected] to enquire about workforce hepatitis C training. Our Nurse Navigator can connect you with your local community hepatitis organisation to arrange workforce training.