NKF announces strategy to improve kidney disease testing in patients with diabetes
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In collaboration with the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the National Kidney Foundation has developed a kidney health evaluation measure designed specifically for patients with diabetes.
“Kidney disease is under-diagnosed in primary care with as many as 90% of people unaware they even have the disease,” Joseph Vassalotti, MD, chief medical officer for the NKF, said in a press release. “This includes as many as 50% of people with advanced kidney disease who may ultimately require dialysis or a transplant to survive. Because kidney disease is asymptomatic in its earliest stages, routine testing among those at highest risk for developing the disease is the only way to diagnose it early and help stave off its life-threatening complications.”
According to the release, the NKF has been working with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for 2 years on the new Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measure, which will help clinicians ensure patients are receiving appropriate testing for kidney disease at routine visits.
Incorporating a previously developed CKD risk test, which combines eGFR and urine albumin-creatinine ratio assessments, the release noted the new measure will evaluate the percentage of adults with diabetes who have received both blood and urine kidney tests within the last 12 months.
Mary Barton, MD, vice president of performance measurement at NCQA, also weighed in on the collaboration, commenting that she values the resulting measure.
“Its inclusion only strengthens the HEDIS mission to improve care for all patients, but especially those who live with diabetes and kidney disease,” she said in the release.
"The inclusion of the new measure in the HEDIS Measurement Year 2020 & Measurement Year 2021 publication is a giant step toward engaging the nation’s health plans, integrated health networks and individual primary care practitioners to improve the diagnosis of kidney disease,” Vassalotti added.
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