Nephrology News

A device that can be mounted on an everyday toilet could be used to help detect multiple diseases, including certain cancers, chronic kidney disease and irritable bowel syndrome, according to research published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

After addressing disparities regarding which patient populations are most likely to develop chronic kidney disease, a speaker at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings touched on a strategy to mitigate such disparities, an effort she deemed “a great success.”

HHS released an updated interim final rule on March 30 that will reimburse nephrologists and physician practice staff for all telehealth visits for patients in dialysis clinics and at home. Visits with patients via telephone are also now reimbursed, with payment based on the length of the call.

On March 20, the American Kidney Fund launched a COVID-19 emergency fund to provide financial assistance to low-income patients on dialysis or who have undergone kidney transplantation. The funding was quickly exhausted due to the large number of applications the organization received. After “appealing to corporations, foundations and individual donors to replenish the fund,” the AKF recently reported it has received donations from three corporations.

The FDA has approved Outset Medical’s Tablo Hemodialysis System for use in a home setting after positive results from 30 patients who completed a year-long trial.

Fresenius Medical Care North America and DaVita Inc. are collaborating with U.S. Renal Care, American Renal Associates, Satellite Health and other providers by sharing isolation capacity around the country for dialysis patients who are or may be positive for the coronavirus.

Through a partnership with the Pathways Project, in collaboration with the Coalition for Supportive Care of Kidney Patients, a Dallas-based nephrology practice has identified ways to tailor advance care planning to the individual patient. The methods, which assessed using “small tests of change,” were presented at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Nephrologists and primary care clinicians should work together to help detect, diagnose and treat patients with chronic kidney disease, according to an expert at the Southwest Nephrology Conference.

For patients with diabetic kidney disease, using an artificial intelligence-enabled diagnostic test to predict rapid kidney function decline and kidney failure could result in substantial savings to the U.S. health care system, a speaker told the audience at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

A healthy diet and lifestyle intervention utilizing daily text messages may help improve the behaviors of patients with chronic kidney disease, according to results of a pilot intervention that were presented at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.