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AAKP Opens National Meeting Online Registration

AAKP Opens National Meeting Online Registration

National Kidney Meeting Targets Patient Engagement and Health

The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the oldest independent kidney patient advocacy organization in America, announced the opening of online registration for its 41stAnnual National Patient Meeting. The AAKP Annual National Patient Meeting is the largest kidney patient education and advocacy meeting held in the United States. The founding members of AAKP were directly involved in the formation of the Federal End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program which passed Congress in October 1972 and was signed into law by President Nixon in 1973.

The meeting will take place at the Nashville Airport Marriott in Nashville, TN, September 25-27, 2015 and is a collaborative effort with support from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, theTennessee Kidney Foundation, Home Dialysis United, End-Stage Renal Disease Network 8, Inc, the Northwest Renal Network and TransplantFirst Academy.

AAKP President Paul T. Conway said, “Kidney patients are among the best informed and most frequent consumers of health care in the country. Patients and caregivers understand advances in research and medical technology result in better treatments and they are unafraid to raise their voices on policy issues that shape future access to high-quality healthcare or their ability pursue their dreams and careers.”

Patients and their caregivers will have an opportunity to learn the latest scientific research regarding kidney disease, educate themselves on advances in new treatment modalities including advances in home hemodialysis and receive training in new strategies and tactics designed to improve their ability to impact Federal and state legislation and policies that determine the health care they receive. Nurses, social workers and dieticians will have the opportunity to receive continuing education credits. Full annual meeting registration will cover health screenings at the AAKP Wellness Center and extensive professional and medical expert networking opportunities will be available to all attendees through the popular Lunch with the Experts program.

The AAKP Patient Meeting agenda features a wide range of topics including:

  • Updates on key Federal legislation and policy impacting living kidney donors and patients
  • Breakthroughs in disease prevention and treatment research
  • Keys to maintaining health, nutrition and wellness
  • Federal government efforts to increase “patient engagement’ in health care
  • Emergency preparedness for kidney patients and caregivers
  • Social media as key policy advocacy tool for patients and caregivers
  • Key advances in pharmaceuticals and technology – especially home hemodialysis
  • The critical importance of keeping kidney patients fully-employed

For more information on the 2015 AAKP National Patient Meeting, as well as sponsorship and vendor opportunities, please visit www.aakp.org/community/programs-events/aakp-national-patient-meeting.html or contact Diana Clynes, AAKP’s Director of Programs & Services atdclynes@aakp.org or call 813-400-2391.

Kidney care, including dialysis, costs the American taxpayer over $35 billion per year, an estimated 7% of the Federal budget. An estimated 26 million Americans suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD), including more than 600,000 individuals who suffer from complete renal failure, a figure that includes those on dialysis or have a functioning kidney transplant. Today, there are 101,720 people on the kidney transplant waiting list.

During the course of the 2015 year, AAKP has partnered with many other allies from the health care and kidney community to make patient perspectives better known among lawmakers and their staffs. They include the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the Alliance for Home Dialysis, the National Renal Administrators Association (NRAA), the National Kidney Foundation(NKF), the Renal Physicians Associations (RPA) and several other national organizations. AAKP will continue its work with its allies so that patient voices are heard and our common goal of improving overall patient care is accomplished.

The founding members of AAKP were directly involved in the formation of the Federal End Stage Renal Disease program which passed in October 1972. In additional to a broad range of relationships in the United States Congress and among allied kidney organizations, AAKP works very closely with Federal agencies and senior leaders across government to inform policy and regulatory decisions related to kidney disease care and prevention as well as dialysis and kidney transplantation. These agencies include the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

AAKP is a voluntary non-profit organization founded by kidney patients, which for more than 45 years, has been dedicated to improving the quality of life of kidney patients through education, advocacy and the fostering of patient communities. The programs offered by AAKP inform and inspire patients and their families to better understand their condition, adjust more readily to their circumstances, and assume more normal, productive lives in their communities.