Renal Physicians Association meeting offers diversified program
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With the Advancing American Kidney Health as a backdrop, sessions planned for the Renal Physicians Association’s Annual Conference, taking place March 19-22 in Baltimore, are aimed at attracting both established and young nephrologists who will play an integral role in implementing the initiative.
“We want the program to appeal to both groups,” Ronald Hyde, MD, RPA’s program chair, told Healio Nephrology. “We also think this program will be of interest to practice managers and advanced practitioners.”
Hyde said advanced practice nurses are showing a stronger interest in the RPA. “They are a growing part of our membership,” Hyde said. “We want to get more program input from them and take advantage of the synergism. Advanced nurse practitioners are a crucial part of our future.”
This year’s program includes the session, “Identify the leader within: AP leadership in nephrology practice settings.” Led by Leah Smith, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, CNN-NP FNKF, the program will discuss integration of advanced practitioners into nephrology practice settings. Another session will cover how practices can use advanced practitioners in developing a chronic kidney disease education program, including legal/billing requirements, time frames and expected reimbursement for services provided to patients.
Even though the Advancing American Kidney Health (AAKH) was announced more than 9 months ago, the complexities of the initiative warrant some conference sessions covering program details, including the proposed payment models for nephrologists, Hyde said.
“We have to offer a clearer picture to nephrologists of what the AAKH entails,” Hyde said. “This idea of changing the quality metrics and new payment models that involves risk. It is something new for doctors. People need to have a better understanding of what HHS is planning for kidney care.” Attendees will be hear directly from HHS Deputy Secretary Eric D. Hargan about progress with the initiative.
Several sessions will delve into AAKH, including a talk by Terry Ketchersid, MD, on the End-Stage Renal Disease Treatment Choices payment model. A second session presented by Jeffrey Giullian, MD, will cover the voluntary payment models, including Kidney Care First, Graduated Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting (CKCC), Professional CKCC and Global CKCC.
Other sessions will cover ways to improve kidney allocation — another AAKH goal — and the challenges and successes of setting up a home dialysis program. A session on how nephrology practices and dialysis providers can increase and maintain peritoneal dialysis rates will be presented by Harry Giles, MD.
A look at innovative kidney care delivery models will be covered in a session that includes Bruce Culleton, MD, of CVS Health; Carmen Peralta, MD, of Cricket Health, and Shika Pappoe, MD, of Strive Health.
The speaker for this year’s Louis Diamond Lecture is Sharon Kauffman, PhD, author of the book, “Ordinary Medicine,” which explores the interplay of medical advances and patient expectations and choices. The book “places nephrologists at the intersection of patients, modern technology and social/cultural attitudes about aging and life prolongation,” the RPA program outline said.
A session on the final day of the program will cover practical considerations of using SGLT2 inhibitors for the prevention of kidney failure, presented by Rita Rastogi Kalyani, MD, MHS, and a fresh look at acute interstitial nephritis by Tejas Desai, MD. The traditional closing session for the meeting – a comprehensive nephrology literature review – will be presented by Edgar Lerma, MD.
For more information on the program and to register for the meeting, visit www.renalmd.org - by Mark E. Neumann
Disclosure: Hyde reports no relevant financial disclosures.