Kidney Disease

Under the mandatory ESRD Treatment Choices proposal, HHS and CMS propose incentives and penalties to dialysis facilities to encourage greater use of home dialysis and transplantation. CMS intends to assign half of the dialysis facilities in the United States to one of two groups based on hospital referral regions. One group which serves as the control would continue to do business as usual, and the facilities in the study group would be subject to incentives and penalties to attain certain benchmarks on the number of patients moving to home dialysis or receiving kidney transplants. The facilities in the study group that fail to achieve the benchmark would sustain penalties as high as 13% for all of their in-center dialysis treatments.

The KidneyX Innovation Accelerator, a partnership between HHS and the American Society of Nephrology intended to encourage innovation relating to diagnosis, prevention and treatment of kidney disease, will announce winners in 2020 for both its Patient Innovator Challenge and Redesign Dialysis Phase 2 competitions.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation yesterday that will restrict the amount of money dialysis providers and drug rehabilitation centers can charge group health plans in the state. The approval of A.B. 290 caps nearly 2 years of debate, a past governor veto of a previous version of the bill, a failed ballot proposition and millions of dollars spent by dialysis providers to defeat the legislation.

It is a sad fact that – even as prevalent as kidney disease has become in the United States – many Americans have no idea that, albeit silently, their kidney function is deteriorating. As we know, there are often few obvious, outward signs. Genetics and race play a role; but whereas people might be aware that their blood pressure is high, they could stand to lose some weight or that their blood sugars are elevated, not enough individuals know to connect the dots between these medical issues and the functional longevity of their kidneys.

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced legislation that would improve education options and promote access to treatment for kidney disease.

Researchers have identified 16 genetic variants in patients with type 1 diabetes that may increase their likelihood of subsequently developing kidney disease.

Amy Earley, who became KDIGO’s first guideline development director in January, has jumped into a quickly evolving role at an organization with ambitious goals.

A meta-analysis of four recent cardiovascular and kidney outcomes trials assessing the use of SGLT2 inhibitors among patients with type 2 diabetes suggests that the drug class offers nephroprotective benefits across all levels of kidney function, regardless of albuminuria status, according to findings published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Gout is associated with a 29% increased risk for developing advanced chronic kidney disease and a 210% increased risk for end-stage renal disease, according to data published in BMJ Open.

The American Kidney Fund has launched a new health education campaign for patients with kidney disease, according to a press release. The campaign, entitled Beyond Bananas, is designed to bolster patient-knowledge of hyperkalemia, thereby better enabling potassium control.