External Peer Review Program
A site for data collection specifications, facility reports and reconsiderations
Network Services
End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)
PROJECT
Comprehensive Kidney Care Quality Improvement
WHAT WE DID
Patient transition support and transplant facilitation
Setting
ESRD patients across 9-state service area
TIMELINE
2020 - 2026
The Project
- Quality Insights operated as the ESRD Networks (3,4,5) serving nine states and territories, working systematically to improve quality and access to kidney care for one of Medicare's most vulnerable patient populations.
- Our comprehensive approach addressed the full spectrum of kidney care, from dialysis management to transplant preparation, recognizing that end-stage renal disease patients require coordinated support across multiple healthcare settings and providers.
- Our program focused on three critical areas that significantly impact patient outcomes and quality of life: transitioning patients to home dialysis modalities when appropriate, facilitating access to kidney transplantation, and ensuring patients receive comprehensive evaluation for transplant eligibility.
- Each of these focus areas required intensive care coordination, patient education, and collaboration with healthcare providers across the care continuum spanning West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Challenges
- Complex medical management requirements for ESRD patients with multiple comorbidities
- Geographic barriers to accessing specialized kidney care services in rural areas
- Patient reluctance to transition from familiar in-center dialysis to home modalities
- Limited availability of kidney transplant centers and long waiting lists
- Insurance coverage complexities for different dialysis modalities and transplant services
- Need for extensive patient and family education on treatment options
- Coordination challenges across multiple healthcare providers and specialists
The Results
- Since 2020, our ESRD Network achieved remarkable success in improving outcomes for kidney patients across our nine-state service area.
- During the past five years, our team worked with facilities throughout our Network service areas to achieve more than 13,000 patients using a home modality and more than 14,000 patients receiving kidney transplants. – the gold standard treatment for end-stage renal disease that offers the best long-term outcomes and quality of life.
- Additionally, we added approximately 20,000 dialysis patients to kidney transplant waitlists, ensuring they had access to this life-saving treatment option when organs became available.
- These achievements represent not just statistical successes but thousands of individual patients whose lives were dramatically improved through better access to optimal kidney care treatments, demonstrating the power of coordinated network services in addressing the complex needs of patients with chronic kidney disease.