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New Study Shows QI Efforts Can Help Overcome Kidney Transplant Disparities

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Although Black individuals suffer from kidney failure at a markedly increased rate compared with White individuals in the US, Black patients have reduced access to kidney transplants and are significantly underrepresented on kidney transplant waitlists. New research from the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows, however, that reducing structural barriers in access to kidney transplants can reduce inequity in tandem.
Read more from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

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Disparities in Kidney Transplant Access Can Be Reduced Through a Multilevel Quality Improvement Effort

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Study shows kidney transplant inequity among African Americans can be addressed by standardizing the evaluation process and expanding the use of telehealth, among other approaches

Key Takeaways

  • Addressing long-standing disparities: African Americans are less likely to be added to the kidney transplant waitlist than white patients and more likely to be on dialysis longer when added to the kidney transplant waitlist.
  • A multilevel quality improvement effort: A five-year retrospective study measured the impact of multiple quality improvement interventions, including increasing local opportunities to complete transplant workup and expanding access to telehealth, intended to reduce key barriers to kidney transplant access.
  • Reducing structural barriers: The interventions increased access to transplants without affecting outcomes, with the researchers noting that virtual visits likely had the most impact in reducing barriers to evaluation. Read the full story in Newswise.
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Widely used test kept Black people from getting kidney transplants sooner. Now that’s changing.

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Kristal Higgins just wants to be healthy, become a nurse and travel to Greece. But she has kidney failure and has been on a transplant waiting list for six years. 

The disease and its comorbidities have touched many of her loved ones. Her mother has stage 2 kidney disease. Her father is diabetic, a risk factor for kidney failure, as was her late grandmother. Several of her relatives have kidney failure. Read more in USA Today.

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Revised Policy Set to Improve Kidney Transplant Waitlist Time for Black Candidates

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The Board of Directors of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) has approved a mandatory waiting time adjustment for Black kidney transplant candidates disadvantaged by race-based kidney function estimates. The policy revision, which went into effect on January 5, 2023, is a major step toward kidney transplantation equity. Read more in Renal & Urology News.

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Medicare policy change could increase inequity in heart transplant access, study finds

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Patients seen at transplant centers had almost 80% higher odds to receive “bridge-to-transplant” designation

A change to Medicare policy surrounding heart transplant may lead to increased inequities in access to transplant for patients with heart failure, a Michigan Medicine study finds.

When a patient has severe heart failure, both a heart transplant and left ventricular assist device, which is implanted to assist the heart in improving blood circulation throughout the body, can be lifesaving. While LVADs continue to improve, heart transplant remains the gold standard therapy for end-stage heart failure.
Read more from University of Michigan Health.

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Breaking Language and Cultural Barriers in Transplant Care

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CU Alumna Gladiz Martinez uses her education to promote transplants to Hispanic community

Growing up in a Spanish-speaking family, Gladiz Martinez, AG-CNS ’20, BSN ’08, often served as a reluctant family interpreter.

“In the outside world, we had to speak English,” she says. “Later, there were a lot of fights – with me being a rebellious teenager and not wanting to be the interpreter anymore.” Read more from CU Anschutz.

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Worse Lung Function Prevalent in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

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Study underscores effects of race, socioeconomic status on disease outcomes

People with sarcoidosis who live in neighborhoods lacking economic and social resources have lower lung function and faster lung function decline, a study in the U.S. and Canada revealed.

Non-white patients were overrepresented in the group with greater disadvantage, suggesting how race and differences in socioeconomic status can lead to poorer outcomes among people from minority backgrounds.  Read more in Sarcoidosis News.

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Is Organ Transplant equal for everyone?

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Solid organ transplantation (SOT) is a treatment, not a cure, for people with an end-stage organ disease. On average, in recent years, it is estimated that 130,000 organ transplants are performed each year worldwide, with an unprecedented impact on the quality and duration of the life of patients with organ failure (GODT, 2017). Read more from the European Public Health Alliance.

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