HHS Launches Kidney Health Initiative
The Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new initiative to improve the quality of life and treatment of patients with kidney disease.
The Advancing American Kidney Health initiative lays out 3 goals:
- Reduce the number of Americans who develop end-stage renal disease by 25% by 2030.
- Have 80% of new end-stage renal disease patients receive dialysis at home or receiving a transplant by 2025.
- Double the number of kidneys available for transplant by 2030.
In conjunction with these goals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation have released a set of 4 optional payment models which are expected to enroll more than 200,000 Medicare patients into plans giving providers incentives for preventing kidney disease and managing kidney health in a more patient-centered way. They also announced a new payment model which will encourage dialysis at home.
Further measures discussed in the initiative and in a paper from the office of the Department’s Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (Advancing American Kidney Health) include:
- A public awareness campaign.
- Reformation of the organ procurement and management system in the US.
- Expansion of support for living donors.
- Support of work on portable dialysis options.
- Expand study of evidence-based approaches to prevent kidney disease through the CDC and NIH.
—Michael Potts
References:
- HHS launches president trump’s “advancing American kidney health” initiative [press release]. July 10, 2019. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2019/07/10/hhs-launches-president-trump-advancing-american-kidney-health-initiative.html.
- Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Advancing American kidney health. https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/advancing-american-kidney-health. Accessed July 11, 2019.