The Opportunity
Renal disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality
in the United States. More than 20 million adults in the United States (10
percent of the population) have chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is associated
with premature mortality, decreased quality of life, and increased healthcare
costs. Risk factors for CKD include cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
hypertension, and obesity.1
Untreated CKD can result in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Currently, over
half a million people in the United States have received a diagnosis of ESRD.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed section 2991 of
Public Law 92-603, which established ESRD as the only healthcare condition to
be covered under Medicare for people under the age of 65.2 People are eligible for Medicare regardless of their age if their kidneys
are no longer functioning, if they need regular dialysis, or if they have had a
kidney transplant. Considering the high mortality rates and high healthcare
utilization and costs associated with ESRD, the need to focus on quality
measures for patients with renal disease is particularly important.
NQF
Related Work
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For more information, please contact renal@qualityforum.org.
1 U.S. Renal Data System(USRDS). USRDS 2010 Annual
Data Report: Atlas of Chronic Kidney Disease and End-Stage Renal Disease in the
United States. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 2010. Available at http://www.usrds.org/atlas.htm.
Last accessed June 2016.
2 CROWNWeb. CROWNWeb: History, Purpose, and Usage
[video]. http://mycrownweb.org/help/what_is_crownweb/.
Last accessed December 2015.
