NKF Spring Clinical Meetings open with message on health equity
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Key takeaways:
- The NKF set out initiatives that include removing race from the Kidney Donor Risk Index.
- The NKF also advocates for the improvement of organ procurement organizations.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — The National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings opened with its president Sylvia E. Rosas, MD, MSCE, discussing the need for equity in care.
“As you all know, chronic kidney disease continues to grow across the world and is estimated that in 2040, it will be the fifth largest noncommunicable disease [causing years of life lost globally],” Rosas, who is also an associate professor of medicine at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, said, here. Moreover, she said that “long-standing health disparities exist in CKD.”
Black Americans, for example, make up 13% of the U.S. population but a disproportionate 33% of patients with end-stage renal disease, according to the NKF. Other groups, including Native Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans, are also more likely to develop ESRD compared with their white counterparts, Rosas said.
To overcome health barriers, the NKF set out specific policy and regulatory initiatives that include removing race from the Kidney Donor Risk Index, advocating policy changes to improve organ procurement organizations, supporting new payment models, and pushing for comprehensive CKD testing and screening within underserved communities.
The NKF also highlighted its support for the Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model, which is a proposed 6-year mandatory model that would begin in 2025 that aims to increase transplant access and reduce Medicare costs through care coordination and donation.
The NKF aims to double living and deceased donations by 2030.
Rosas said wins for the kidney care community include positive state-level legislative changes, as well as the signing of the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplant Network Act.
Rosas said the NKF will continue to tackle health inequities in its efforts with lawmakers and within communities. The NKF Kidney Equity for All and Transplant for All groups are working to raise kidney awareness, improve wait list times, address workforce shortages, increase transparency in the process and explore novel tools like xenotransplantation.
Among major goals for the foundation are advancing the Kidney Donor Protection Act, Rosas said.
“This is our act where we try to get our kidney donors to not be discriminated against [involving] insurance, and we are improving access to home dialysis and addressing inequities in transplantation. Those are our main priorities for this year,” Rosas said.
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Rosas SE, et al. NKF presidential address and keynote presentation. Presented at: NKF Spring Clinical Meetings; May 14-18, 2024; Long Beach, Calif.
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