Patient

Cari Maxwell, a member of the National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Advocacy Committee, was honored with the Celeste Castillo Lee Patient Engagement Award at the NKF Spring Clinical Meetings, according to a press release.

Study findings indicate that epidemiologic surveys and patient forms for adolescents should include broader options for sexual orientation and gender identity, researchers reported in Pediatrics.

Developers of devices like the artificial kidney need to take advantage of technological advances, but the end users — in this case, patients with kidney disease — should be included as key advisers, a speaker said during Kidney Week.

A study of the live herpes zoster vaccine in patients with psoriasis is just one of many in recent years to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in this patient population, yet vaccination rates in this group remain low despite patients’ high risk for shingles and other vaccine-preventable viruses. Patients may be uncertain about which vaccines are safe for them to take with their psoriasis or other medications, and the difference between live attenuated and killed vaccines — as well as the associated risk for each — can be confusing.

CMS has released new data for its Dialysis Facility Compare Star Rating system for Medicare- certified dialysis facilities. There are new “clinical” ratings, based on facility performance on the eight clinical measures used in this rating system for the period of 2015 to 2018, as well as updated patient experience of care ratings based on the In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (ICH-CAHPS) surveys conducted between April 2018 and January 2019.