Essential Access Health's Chlamydia/Gonorrhea (CT/GC) Expedited Partner Therapy Distribution Program
Essential Access Health's Chlamydia/Gonorrhea (CT/GC) Expedited Partner Therapy Distribution Program is a free program designed to ensure that exposed sex partners of patients diagnosed with a CT/GC infection receive timely treatment to prevent repeat infection.
Expedited partner therapy (EPT) is not intended as a first-line partner management strategy. It is an evidence-based alternative for treating sex partners who are unable or unlikely to visit a health center. This program is intended for uninsured or underinsured sex partners of patients diagnosed with a CT/GC infection.
Through the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program, California clinic sites and local health jurisdictions (LHJs) are supplied with free medication to give, when appropriate, to their patients diagnosed with chlamydia and/or gonorrhea. Patients deliver the medication to their sex partners without the partners needing to be examined or evaluated by a clinician prior to treatment. Additionally, LHJs implementing Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) programs outside of a clinical setting may provide the free medication to patients and/or their sex partners through field-delivered treatment (FDT).
Program Eligibility
To be eligible to participate in the free Chlamydia/Gonorrhea (CT/GC) Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) Distribution Program, each clinic site and local health jurisdiction (LHJ) is required to meet all of the following criteria.
Each clinic site and/or LHJ must:
- Be located in California
- Serve a population that is at risk for STIs (sexually transmitted infections)
- Serve a population that is uninsured or underinsured. This may be demonstrated by meeting one or more of the following criteria:
- Affiliation with a local health jurisdiction
- Designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), FQHC Look-Alike, or Rural Health Clinic (RHC)
- Member of a community clinic consortium
- Participation in the 340B Drug Pricing Program
- Receipt of Ryan White funding
- Receipt of Title X funding
- Site pre-approved by Essential Access Health
Additionally, each clinic site or LHJ must meet at least one of the following requirements for delivery of patient chlamydia and gonorrhea treatment:
- Direct Onsite Dispensing - Provide direct onsite dispensing of chlamydia and gonorrhea medication to patients for their own treatment in the clinical setting. In this case, medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program can be provided to the patient by clinic staff.
- Onsite Pharmacy - Provide chlamydia and gonorrhea medication to patients for their own treatment through an onsite pharmacy. In this case, medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program would be distributed by the pharmacist when filling the patients’ treatment.
- Field-Delivered Treatment - Provide medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program to patients and/or their sex partners through field-delivered treatment (FDT). This option is only available to LHJs.
Program Participation Requirements
Eligible clinic sites and local health jurisdictions (LHJs) that participate in the Chlamydia/Gonorrhea (CT/GC) Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT) Distribution Program are required to adhere to the following participation requirements:
Distribute medication as appropriate.
Distribute medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program to patients who have received a positive chlamydia/gonorrhea diagnosis for provision only to their sex partners (a) who they believe are unable or unlikely to seek prompt clinical services and (b) who they believe to be uninsured and/or underinsured. LHJs using the medication for other methods of expedited partner treatment (EPT), such as field-delivered treatment (FDT), are permitted to provide the medication to the patient as appropriate.
Medication for use only at specific site/LHJ that requested the medication.
Distribute medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program only at the participating clinic site or LHJ that requested the medication. Please note that medication ordered by LHJs for FDT can only be used for FDT. Medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program may not be shared with other clinic sites or LHJs. LHJs may not order medications to distribute to non-LHJ affiliated clinics or community health center partners.
Provide patient education material and clinic referral with each dose.
Dispense medication from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program in conjunction with patient education material (available on the Resources page) and a clinic referral.
Watch required webinar.
Watch the EPT webinar at least once, and again when an updated version is published. The point-person and site contacts (applicable to agencies and LHJs with multiple participating sites) are required to watch Essential Access Health EPT webinar at least once and agree to be responsible for keeping all clinical staff informed about the appropriate uses of EPT and applicable program requirements. Essential Access Health recommends that the medical director or physician overseeing EPT dispensing practices also watch the webinar.
In order to properly receive credit for watching the webinar, the point-person and site contact(s) view the webinar, found at the “webinar” link at the top of this page and complete the post-webinar evaluation with is linked to below the video.
Keep a medication log.
Keep a log (“medication log”) of all dispensed medication doses from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program at each participating clinic site or LHJ. Aggregate site-specific data, including data from the medication log, is required to be submitted online with each new CT/GC EPT Distribution Program medication request. The data that is required to submit at the time of each order includes:
- Doses in stock - number of CT and GC doses in stock
- Expired doses - number of expired CT and GC doses
- Chlamydia data
- number of patients testing positive for CT, by gender
- number of patients provided with CT partner treatment from the CT/GC EPT Distribution Program, by gender
- number of doses of CT partner treatment dispensed to CT-positive patients, by gender
- Gonorrhea data
- number of patients testing positive for GC, by gender
- number of patients provided with GC partner treatment from CT/GC EPT Distribution Program, by gender
- number of doses of GC partner treatment dispensed to GC-positive patients, by gender