Chronic Kidney Disease

Brandi Riddle, chief financial officer at Strive Health, discussed the role technology and predictive analytics will play in changing kidney care in the future.

Noting each of their benefits, the researchers also caution that to better characterize their safety and efficacy, there’s a need for further investigation among larger patient pools.

Data from nearly 3000 patients across multiple countries with the disease showed that undertreatment was most notable among patient with hemoglobin (Hb) <10 g/dL.

Nephrologist Mary Dittrich, MD, the chief medical officer and executive vice president of U.S. Renal Care as well as cofounder and partner of Boise Kidney & Hypertension Institute, discusses how to keep patients safe while providing high-quality kidney care during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

A population-based study from the Netherlands showed that individuals with had at least 1 direct relative affected with chronic kidney disease (CKD), suggesting that biomarkers for CKD can aid in detecting the early stages of the disease.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the new chief financial officer of Strive Health, a value-based kidney care company that works with payers and providers to create an integrated care delivery system for chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We discuss the changes coming to nephrology practices, as well as new ways of looking at the whole patient to halt the slide to irreversible ESRD.

The FDA decision on dapaglifozin for CKD is expected in the second quarter of 2021.

A new study from Sweden cautions against routine discontinuation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Slowing progression of chronic kidney disease can help mitigate adverse outcomes in minority populations, said Guofen Yan, PhD, associate professor of biostatistics in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

This approach allows clinicians to keep using existing prediction models and incorporate chronic kidney disease (CKD) data seamlessly to calibrate patients' risks, said Kunihiro Matsushita, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Division of Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University.

Two story lines predominated renal news in 2020: coronavirus disease 2019's effect on the kidneys and the overwhelming benefits of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors for those with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.

The author discusses how value-based payment models in chronic kidney disease can improve total cost and quality of care for patienst with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

A study evaluating whether a virtual platform can improve access to evaluations for kidney transplants found that surgical teams could continue to keep up with evaluations adding patients to wait lists during the pandemic.

Bringing together genetic work with social determinants of health can improve understanding of factors associated with ESKD disparities, said Adriana Hung, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, and Bryce Rowan, a statistical genetic analyst.

An observational study showed that it may be more effective to start patients on a renin-angiotensin system inhibitor (RASi) than a calcium channel blocker in delaying progression of advanced kidney disease.

Patients with COVID-19 and end-stage renal disease were 11 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital than patients without kidney disease.

A variety of factors contributed to discontinuation rates in FIDELIO-DKD, said George Bakris, MD, professor of medicine and director of the American Heart Association Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medicine.

As higher estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equations indicate better kidney function, there has been increasing recognition that this may lead to inequitable and delayed care in treating chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Black adults.

Making sure patients have a strong medical home and close follow-up is one way to reduce glomerular disease disparities among children, said Jill Krissberg, MD, a pediatric nephrology fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Jackson Williams is vice president, public policy at Dialysis Patient Citizens. Previously he worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); was a health services researcher in the AARP Public Policy Institute; and a lobbyist on health policy issues for 3 nonprofit associations. His more than 2 decades of experience monitoring, studying, and overseeing federal demonstration projects include time as a project officer at CMMI and serving as the consumer representative on a Medicare pilot site’s governing body.

If results from FIGARO-DKD are as positive as those of FIDELIO-DKD, the field will work aggressively to get the message out, said George Bakris, MD, professor of medicine and director of the American Heart Association Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medicine.

In the FIDELIO-DKD trial researchers purposely recruited centers that had very large African American databases, said George Bakris, MD, professor of medicine and director of the American Heart Association Comprehensive Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago Medicine.

A new analysis of CREDENCE data showed that the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor worked in advanced disease and without causing acute kidney injury.

The FIDELIO-DKD program is perhaps just the beginning of seeing how finerenone can be used, said Rajiv Agarwal, MD, MS, FASN, a professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Primary care physicians did not refer the majority of patients with severe nephropathy to specialists; nonreferred patients had fewer comorbidities and might be better kidney transplant candidates.