Kidney community needs to embrace ‘moonshot’ from Advancing American Kidney Health, KidneyX
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
SCOTSDALE, Ariz. — The timing is right for the kidney care community to advance the treatment and potential cure of ESKD, according to a speaker here at the Southwest Nephrology Annual Conference and Cardio Renal Metabolic Annual Conference.
“This is really our ‘moonshot.’ I’ve never seen anything like this in my career,” John R. Sedor, MD, said. “This is our chance to work together.”
Sedor is the Ray W. Clifford, MD Endowed Chair of Kidney Research at the Cleveland Clinic and also chairs the steering committee for KidneyX, the government-funded competition for researchers and manufacturers to develop new technology for the treatment of kidney disease. The Trump Administration recently approved $5 million in the federal budget for KidneyX funding. The funds will be directed to the second phase of KidneyX: Redesign Dialysis.
Sedor said the development of a cure to ESKD will help reduce the impact of dialysis on patients and families who support them. Likewise, it will reduce the $114 billion that Medicare spends each year on kidney care. Of that amount, $35 billion goes directly to dialysis treatments. Of the approximate 100,000 new patients who start dialysis each year, approximately 50% will be alive after 5 years, he said.
“We are at a tipping point,” Sedor said. “I think we can do better.”
Sedor said the Trump Administration has shown its interest in kidney disease with its support of Advancing American Kidney Health. The initiative calls for a reduction of the number of new cases of ESKD, an increase in the availability of donor organs, and placement of more patients on home dialysis.
“The power of the office of the president is incredible,” Sedor said.
Much of the advancement in treatment will be dependent on new payment models and a greater emphasis on CKD care, he said. The use of telehealth will also be part of the landscape for the kidney care team and patients as it will play an important role in providing virtual home visits after patients leave the hospital.
“Patients should be able to tell us where the best place is that they want to be seen and treated,” he said. by Mark E. Neumann
Reference:
Sedor JR. Medicare support of chronic kidney disease (CKD stages 4 & 5). Presented at: Southwest Nephrology Annual Conference and Cardio Renal Metabolic Annual Conference. March 6-7, 2020; Scottsdale, Ariz.
Disclosure: Sedor reports no relevant disclosures.