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American Kidney Fund Statement on CBO Score for H.R. 5534, Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2020

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“The American Kidney Fund is pleased with the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) scoring of H.R. 5534, the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2020, which estimates the bill will reduce direct federal spending on Medicare benefits for some kidney transplant patients by $400 million over 10 years.

“H.R. 5534 will add a new Medicare coverage option solely to cover immunosuppressive drugs used by kidney transplant patients under age 65. People with transplants must take immunosuppressive drugs or their body will reject the transplanted organ. For people with a kidney transplant, the devastating impact of losing their kidney means they will have to go on dialysis or try to find another kidney-a daunting task with close to 100,000 people on the wait list.”

Read the full statement by AKF, here.

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Advancing American Kidney Health can Improve the Transplant Rate

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“Transplant is widely considered the preferred modality of renal replacement therapy for patients with irreversible kidney failure.

Transplant is more effective at replacing kidney function than dialysis and provides most patients with a better quality of life, as well as an increased opportunity to participate in the work force.

Despite the advantages offered by transplant, fewer than one in 10 adults with kidney disease receive a kidney and 12 candidates die each day on the waitlist. Policy makers must take aggressive measures to help more patients seek a transplant and increase the number of available kidneys.”

Read the full article, here.

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Patient’s Ventricles Removed as Bridge to Heart Transplant

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“Brian Pedigo was originally referred to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, for a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), but the 41-year-old’s condition deteriorated rapidly.

He was experiencing intractable ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation and going into cardiogenic shock. With both ventricles in bad shape, his team of cardiologists couldn’t just put in an LVAD. On top of that, Pedigo’s thin frame and the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to support him in the ICU meant he likely wasn’t a candidate for an FDA-approved total artificial heart.”

Read the full article, here.

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After Chance The Rapper’s Aunt’s Wait For Kidney Donation Was Subject Of Viral Tweet, A Donor Changed Her Life

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“It is a reality for more than 3,000 people in Illinois who are waiting on a donation. CBS 2’s Tara Molina on Thursday night introduced us to one woman whose wait went viral last year – and the donor who stepped in to change her life.

Two lives changed at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center. Toni Barnes Jordan got a second chance at life, while Maranda Proce got a friend for life.

And it was all because of a tweet. One single tweet from Chicago native Chancelor Johnathan Bennett, better known as Chance the Rapper.

“We were sitting on my back deck and he said, ‘I’m going to tweet this right now,’” Jordan said.
That is how it all started.”

Read the full story, here.

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U.S. Army Veteran Gets Triple the Chance At Life, with Utah’s First Triple Organ Transplant

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“Decades of planning put physicians at University of Utah Health in the position to save a United States Army veteran whose life was hanging by a thread, as three of his major organs were failing.

“He was so, so, so, so sick,” said Dr. Craig Selzman, surgical director of the heart and lung transplant program at University of Utah Hospital. “We didn’t really think he had a chance.”

Keith Baker, 58, started with heart failure, a condition that worsened over time and ultimately caused irreparable damage to his kidneys. Not long after that, the Yuma, Arizona, native was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. With triple organ failure, he was not believed to be a good candidate for transplant, said Dr. Josef Stehlik, surgeon and director of the heart transplant program at the U.”

Read the full story, here.

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‘Kidney’ vs ‘Renal’: Experts Say Words Matter

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Most Patients Don’t Know What Renal Means

“KDIGO collaborated with Standardised Outcomes in Nephrology (SONG) to conduct 10 focus groups with 54 patients and 13 caregivers from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. These revealed the patients’ attitudes and experiences with language commonly used to describe kidney diseases and care.

Some patients said that “end-stage kidney disease” sounds like impending death, and most did not know what “renal” meant.”

Read the full article, here.

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New Guidelines Address Diabetes Management in Kidney Disease

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“A new guideline from the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) group addressing issues around diabetes management in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has just been published in synopsis form in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The full guideline, including 12 recommendations and 48 practice points for clinicians caring for patients with diabetes and CKD, was published last month in Kidney International and on the KDIGO website.

More than 40% of people with diabetes develop CKD, and a significant number develop kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant. This is the first guidance from KDIGO to address the comorbidity.”

Read more, here.

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Chuck Lorre’s ‘B Positive’ Puts a (Slightly) More Urgent Spin on the TV Odd Couple: TV Review

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“The first two episodes of the show, though, do set up enough side plots and dynamics to suggest that there’s plenty of material to mine going forward. It’s also not hard to see where “B Positive” could sit among the latest slate of CBS multi-cam sitcoms produced by Chuck Lorre, namely “Mom” and “Bob Hearts Abishola.” With settings like Gina’s job at an assisted living facility and Drew’s dialysis group turned frank support group, “B Positive” works to lend more personality and authenticity to what could otherwise be just a basic odd couple show. Should it get the room to go forward, the show would be smart to expand upon those elements that make Gina and Drew seem more human instead of leaning on their wacky differences.”

Read the full review, here.

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Kidney Patients Expand Impact as Kidney Voters™ in 2020

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“The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest and largest independent kidney patient organization in the nation, today thanked kidney patient volunteers, their families, and kidney community allies for exercising their influence through voter registration and engagement as self-identified Kidney Voters™ through AAKP’s I Am A Kidney Voter initiative (#KIDNEYVOTER and #IAmAKidneyVoter) in the 2020 election”

“In 2018, AAKP developed and launched the first non-partisan kidney community voter education, registration, and turnout drive that had ever been attempted. In 2019, AAKP launched The Decade of the Kidney™ upon the signing of the White House Executive Order onAdvancing American Kidney Health Initiative. This strategic effort organizes kidney patient consumers nationally and globally to further drive policies that prevent kidney injury and disease, and support greater patient care choice, innovation, and timely access to care and new treatment options. Based on the grassroots tactics and online technologies refined by AAKP in 2018 and 2019, the I Am A Kidney Voter initiative has expanded rapidly to include all sectors of the kidney community, including medical professionals such as nephrologists and transplant surgeons, researchers, and workers across the medical industry and policy-influencers. AAKP estimates that their expanded platforms will engage close to 500,000 Kidney Voters™ by the 2022 election cycle while expanding kidney patient consumer demand for full immunosuppressive drug coverage for transplanted kidneys, new diagnostics to detect kidney disease far in advance of current standards, new biologics and precision medicine to treat and slow kidney disease progression, as well as bioengineered and artificial wearable and implantable kidneys to ease transplant waiting times.”

Read the full press release by AAKP, here.

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Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is Strongly Effective, Early Data from Large Trial Indicate

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“Pfizer and partner BioNTech said Monday that their vaccine against Covid-19 was strongly effective, exceeding expectations with results that are likely to be met with cautious excitement — and relief — in the face of the global pandemic.

The vaccine is the first to be tested in the United States to generate late-stage data. The companies said an early analysis of the results showed that individuals who received two injections of the vaccine three weeks apart experienced more than 90% fewer cases of symptomatic Covid-19 than those who received a placebo. For months, researchers have cautioned that a vaccine that might only be 60% or 70% effective.”

Read the full article, here.

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