ace value on recommendations from physicians/nurses, suggesting that black respondents rely less on medical professionals. This is reinforced by findings surrounding trust in healthcare; white respondents were more likely than black respondents to fully trust healthcare providers more broadly, including when asked about their own providers. When selecting a dialysis treatment option, effectiveness and quality of life provided were most important to all patients in the study.
Kidney PATH Program to Include Pilot Educational Component Developed by Outset Medical
Outset Medical, as part of its ongoing commitment to working with the kidney care community to reduce disparities in treatment access for all ESKD patients and to increasing confidence in home dialysis, is taking additional steps to directly apply the knowledge gathered from this survey. Outset has provided a grant to NKFM to develop a curriculum that will be offered as part of the latter’s Stanford University-accredited, evidence-based chronic kidney disease self-management program, Kidney PATH (Personal Action Toward Health).
The purpose of the updated Kidney PATH curriculum will be to help empower people with kidney disease to better understand their options for home dialysis and transplant, and feel confident in selecting those as options for treatment. The core Kidney PATH curriculum, that is currently delivered to patients over six sessions, with one 2.5-hour session per week (in a virtual format for now), includes elements of the long-established Stanford PATH program. The new treatment modalities-specific content will be delivered via two additional curriculum pilot sessions, beginning this June.
“What’s exciting is that although this program is being piloted in Michigan, it really applies nationwide.”
-Tonya Saffer, Outset Head of Government Affairs & Market Access
NKFM has a long and successful track record of providing community-based health programs that bring together underserved populations, healthcare providers, and commercial payers. The organization has held educational sessions focused on diabetes and pain self-management, among other chronic health conditions, for many years. Stanford’s various PATH programs are delivered by many healthcare organizations across the country, with each session typically led by two trained leaders, at least one of whom has a long-term health condition. In the weekly sessions, participants learn strategies for better nutrition, healthcare options, and dealing with issues such as pain, fatigue, and difficult emotions. They also create personal action plans and set practical, achievable goals.
“NKF in Michigan has a lot of experience in addressing chronic health disparities, so they’re a really good partner for us in terms of implementing a kidney disease treatment education program,” says Saffer.
“Although the Kidney PATH program is excellent and very successful, what it was lacking was any education on what patients’ treatment options are when their kidneys fail, which is a key part of kidney disease self-management,” Saffer continues. She is working with other Outset team members and NKFM to develop and pilot the new curriculum. “If a patient is progressing into or is already in the advanced stages of kidney disease, it’s really important for them to understand that transplantation and home dialysis are options for them, in addition to in-center dialysis.”
“The goal with this new curriculum is to reach out to more disadvantaged populations, particularly those with lower socioeconomic status, and help them understand their treatment options, and how to overcome perceived barriers to home dialysis and transplant,” says Saffer.
As part of this educational initiative, Outset Medical will also assist NKFM in identifying and referring newly diagnosed CKD patients in Michigan to Kidney PATH courses where the new treatment-focused content will be piloted. Patients will also be surveyed pre- and post-program, with questions being added to evaluate the effectiveness of the new content in terms of changing knowledge, attitudes